- CEO commits to contributing to decrease in global average remittance cost
- RPW says international money transfers costs are higher than G8 and G20 targets
The latest update from Remittances Prices Worldwide (RPW) reveals that the cost of international money transfers in December 2017 remains substantially higher than the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 set by the United Nations. In Q4 2017, there was a modest drop in the global average cost of making international payments compared to the previous: in Q3 that stood at 7.21%, falling to 7.09% in the final quarter.
While it is true that since the third quarter of 2014, the global average has stayed below 8% – and 7.09% represents a new low – it is equally true that the downward trend in cross-border payments fees has been incredibly slow and we should expect to see faster progress.
The metrics used by RPW track progress toward the UN’s targets for global remittance costs. The desired target of 3% remains a long way from the existing state of affairs at 7.09%.
This is where outliers in the money transfers industry, like InstaReM, come in. This is a remittance platform that is already intimidating traditional service providers like post offices, banks and Money Transfer Organisations (MTOs) by lowering the costs of remittances substantially.
Costs are kept high by the concealed FX spread, which refers to the disparity between the wholesale interbank Forex rate and the rate charged by banks or MTOs – something that senders never see.
InstaReM, which is licensed to send money transfers out of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Malaysia, has been ranked by the World Bank as one of the most competitive remittance platforms in corridors between Australia and Singapore. Its technology can transfer funds within 24 hours rather than the conventional five days and, as founder Prajit Nanu explains:
“Currently InstaReM is able to send money internationally to over 3.21 billion people across the globe at Real Time FX Rates, and transparent fees as low as 0.25%. Since we have the EU & US markets in sight this year, we will have scale to contribute substantially towards the G8 and G20 commitment to reduce the global average cost of remittances to 5%.”
