- TransferWise said that it would take its ‘TransferWise for Banks’ service to parts of Asia as a result of the new collaboration.
- The features will permit organisations to boost their user payment experience – and also to potentially reduce their costs.
- The development comes after TransferWise saw itself valued at a figure of $5bn.
International money transfer firm TransferWise has confirmed that it will work alongside Singapore-based ‘neobank’ Aspire as part of a new attempt to improve access to financial services in the region.
The firm said that it would offer its ‘TransferWise for Banks’ service in a range of countries around Asia as a result of the development.
This service is designed to permit organisations such as credit unions and e-wallet firms to improve the payment experience for users.
The new move will be powered by TransferWise’s application programming interface (API).
This service allows providers to access the powerful features of the TransferWise system.
Aspire, meanwhile, is a self-described ‘neobank’, which offers services to almost 80m smaller firms in the region.
In a statement, TransferWise said that the move was a way for it to make a range of improvements in the cross-border payments sector.
The firm suggested, for example, that it could lead to improvements in terms of speed, cost-effectiveness and more.
“Bringing this service to Asia is another step towards our vision of everyone getting fast, cheap, transparent international payments wherever they are, whatever they’re doing,” the firm said.
Andrea Baronchelli, who serves as the chief executive officer at Aspire and who also co-founded it, said that his firm was “excited” about the development.
“We’re excited that small businesses and business owners using Aspire can now make international payments through our partnership with TransferWise,” he said.
He added that the two firms were in agreement about what was required to improve the condition of cross-border cash transfers.
“TransferWise and Aspire both share an ambition to build a new standard in banking and international transfers,” he said.
Insight
TransferWise is having a good few weeks.
Not only did it recently become valued at $5bn, but it has also released this key partnership news – suggesting that it is making significant inroads when it comes to expanding in the important Southeast Asian market.
One interesting aspect of this story is the way that it was covered in the wider finance press, with one outlet describing TransferWise as a “stealth bank”.
This highlights an ongoing debate within the sector: are online money transfer firms essentially banks in all but name?
The final answer to that question may remain to be seen for some time, though it is clear that firms such as TransferWise are playing an increasingly important – and, arguably, very welcome – role in helping people to access financial services.
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