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East and South Asia combined represent a significant region for international payments accounting for half the world’s remittance payments
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OFX appointment signifies two strategic moves for the company strengthening North American operations and bolstering Asia Pacific operations
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Singapore regulator is looking to support money transfer apps to reinforce its competitive banking edge for sending money throughout the region
OFX makes a new appointment of Ms Glasgow as Chief Technology Officer. Having worked for Google where she led the Asia Pacific teams, her arrival is at an opportune time for the company, as much development work is taking place in the Asia Pacific region. Recent comments from Singapore’s banking regulator indicate that it is keen to support fintech that centres on international money transfer apps in a bid to maintain the country’s banking competitiveness within the region.
According to data from World Bank, East Asia Pacific has the highest level of remittance payments globally and is estimated to account for $130 billion in 2017 to developing countries, followed by South Asia with $112bn in 2017 to developing countries, which is over half of all remittance payments to developing countries ($444 billion). As a region, the growth in mobile payments is seeing new investments and acquisitions from competitors who are keen to cash in the opportunity. Recent developments have included acquisitions in Singapore and Thailand by Alipay and TenCent respectively, as well as the planned launch of a WeChat pay platform in Malaysia.
OFX is well established in UK, Australia and New Zealand and the company are looking to bolster operations in US with the recent appointment of Mr Kennedy at the helm. Their new appointment of Ms Glasgow is another significant appointment as the company looks to remain competitive in the international transfer payments sector.
