- Cross-border payments firm MoneyGram has experienced a huge rise in digital transaction volumes, with digital transactions accounting for over a quarter of all transfers.
- Digital partner transfers also performed well, suggesting that the march towards online – and the partnership model – is growing.
- The chief executive officer and chair said that the firm laid the groundwork for a move towards digital long before the coronavirus pandemic hit – though he acknowledged that the pandemic had caused a change in behaviour.
International money transfer firm MoneyGram has announced huge growth in the volume of its digital transactions between Q2 of this year and last.
In an earnings release document, the cross-border payments firm said that a rise of 106% had occurred in Q2 2020 when compared to Q2 2019.
The document also revealed that digital transfers represented around 27% of the firm’s total transaction amounts in this timeframe.
Transactions via MoneyGram that could originally be traced back to digital partners, meanwhile, were up by almost 100%.
The figures were then contextualised by Alex Holmes, who serves as MoneyGram’s chief executive officer and chairman.
He provided the additional information in a call for analysts.
In it, he acknowledged that many people in the international money transfer industry believed that the coronavirus pandemic had led to a more digital-friendly industry.
“Over the last few months, a number of headlines have suggested that the coronavirus pandemic has transformed the company and the industry,” he said.
However, he also said that MoneyGram in particular had worked hard to create a pro-digital environment long before the pandemic hit.
“Although the pandemic has clearly accelerated the change in consumer behavior, this is much more than an overnight success story for us,” he explained.
He went on to add that MoneyGram had been working hard since around 2016 to do this.
“We began to thoughtfully lay the foundations of our digital transformation four years ago,” he said.
He also emphasised the role of repeat business in keeping the firm’s digital offering so successful.
“Once individuals try MoneyGram Online, they keep coming back given the simplicity of the experience, the affordable prices and the unparalleled receive options for family and friends,” he claimed.
As is often the case with earnings calls, MoneyGram’s headline figures did also somewhat draw attention away from less positive developments.
The call also revealed, for example, that the firm’s overall revenues were down by 14% or so.
However, its diluted adjusted earnings figures for each share in the firm, a metric that is often used by shareholders to value firms, was revealed to be up by 1% on revenue – a boost that was higher than what analysts had expected.
For that reason, then, it is possible that MoneyGram is not going to face any problems any time soon.
To learn more about the position of cross-border payments firms such as MoneyGram and how they are performing in the coronavirus age, why not check out our news pages and read some further articles?
