Emerging Themes

Transfers such as these could be delivered in cash or picked up from another branch or agent in the beneficiary's country. Systems were also in place to allow customers to transfer cash to a bank account or move funds from their bank account to bank accounts overseas.

However, the foreign exchange market has become increasingly competitive over recent decades both in terms of exchange rates offered to the customer and how they are able to transfer money. New developments mean that the more traditional MTOs such as Western Union and MoneyGram are upgrading their products to offer more service options and a variety of convenient transfer methods to their customers to combat the ever growing competition.

The nature of this competition implies that customers will now have a myriad of options at their fingertips with regards to transferring their money overseas. Banks, FX Brokers and Currency Specialists are all clamouring to secure business and are offering both increasingly sophisticated and convenient products in the hope of capturing a larger market share.

Much of this growth is occurring across online and mobile platforms that are designed to allow customers to facilitate the transfers in their own time when they are at work, home or even travelling. Furthermore, highly complex FX tools are being made available such as Forward Contracts that allow you to fix a certain exchange rate for a period of time in the future.

Competitive forces helped traditional banking services rapidly evolve into online banking. Soon after appeared stock trading platforms offering customers the ability to manage their investment portfolios. A key revenue generating element businesses started observing is customer empowerment, especially in knowledge-driven economies. Businesses also began realising, especially over the last decade, the "unchartered territory" of the $420 billion remittance industry, which was previously dominated by a handful of MTOs.

Now the race is on amongst various banks across the globe to allow their customers to log on to the banks' websites to perform remittance transactions themselves instead of having to walk into some MTO branch and wait in those long queues for hours. Now the Telcos are building alliances with banks to empower customers to remit money using their mobile phones. Developments such as these have meant that cost and time have been saved, savings that can then be directly passed on to the customer.

This has left many companies striving to catch up and match the developments laid down by their competitors and thankfully this is where companies such as RemitONE come in. RemitONE are an experienced provider of money transfer software systems to the remittance industry and their solutions are used by banks and MTOs worldwide.

RemitONE's clients can run their daily operations effectively and efficiently whilst offering their customers the ability to execute transactions from branches, over the Internet, via SMS on mobile phones and by using prepaid card systems.

With a global population that is increasingly using the Internet for their everyday tasks and access to a computer becoming more widely available, the use of technology for money transfers will continue to grow exponentially. The global remittance market alone accounts for over $420 billion annually and with research showing that even in rural parts of the developing world, more people have access to a mobile phone than to a bank account, servicing money transfer corridors with advanced technologies will become increasingly valuable.

Aamer Abedi, Director of Marketing, RemitONE states:

"Our Mobile Remittance Module (MRM) enables organisations to offer their customers the facility to send money via SMS on their mobile phones. We are receiving a rapidly increasing number of inquiries from North America and Africa regarding MRM. Although we are expecting mobile remittance to really gather momentum this year, the success of the rate of adoption of this service will vary from region to region."

At money transfer comparison website www.sendmoneyhome.org there has been a considerable increase in customers wanting to find out more details about how they can transfer via their mobile phones. This has seen the addition of mobile phone centred remittance providers such as Mukuru.com and Provident Capital Transfers, servicing corridors in Africa and Asia.

However, the development of technology appears to have been split between the favoured remittance corridors of Africa and Asia and the rest of the world. Mobile phone money transfers to the Americas, Australasia and Europe is fairly non-existent and is therefore not taking advantage of the huge markets that they provide. It offers exceptional ease, convenience and value for money and soon every Money Transfer Operator will be clamouring to offer mobile money transfers as one of their services.

Several banks and MTOs are using RemitONE solutions to run their daily remittance operations efficiently; offer their customers the ability to execute transactions from branches, over the Internet, via SMS on mobile phones and by using prepaid card systems; and significantly cut costs.

The World Bank's Payment Systems Development Group (PSDG) is using its experience and role in the international payment system community to lead an effort to address the G-8 request to enhance the efficiency of remittance markets and reduce costs.

In many cases, the cost to remittance senders is expensive relative to the often low incomes of the migrant workers, the amounts sent, and the income of the remittance receivers. Therefore, any reduction in remittance transfer prices would result in more money remaining with the migrants and their families, and would have a significant effect on the income levels of remittance families. The World Bank states that if the cost of sending remittances could be reduced by 5 percentage points relative to the value sent, remittance recipients in developing countries would receive over $16 billion dollars more each year than they do now. This added income could then provide remittance recipients more opportunity for consumption, savings, and investment in local economies.

Reasons for the high remittance transfer fees are due to various factors including migrant difficulty in obtaining the required identification documents, lack of access to banking services, limited competition, regulations and underdeveloped financial infrastructure in some countries.

According to the World Bank, the average global cost for sending remittances through commercial banks was 12.4 percent in the first quarter of 2010 for a $200 transfer, making them the costliest channel, while the average cost at post offices and MTOs was the cheapest at 6.72 percent and 7.1 percent respectively.

The mean total cost of sending remittances to nations in Central Asia, Europe, Latin America and South Asia was lower than the average global cost. In parallel, the mean total cost of sending remittances to East Asia and the Pacific, Sub Saharan Africa and the MENA was higher than the global mean. On the other hand, transferring remittances to South Asia and Latin America was the least costly among all regions.

The World Bank notes that the costliest corridor for remittances was from Australia to Papua New Guinea at 43.32 percent for a $200 transfer, followed by Tanzania to Rwanda at 40 percent, while the cheapest corridor was from Singapore to Bangladesh at 4.48 percent followed by the UAE to Pakistan at 4.87 percent.

The latest data from the World Bank is testimony to the fact that leading Bangladeshi financial organisations such as Agrani Bank and Prime Bank operating in the Singapore-Bangladesh corridor are able to utilise money transfer technologies such as those provided by RemitONE to reduce their operational costs and generate profits and pass the savings on to their customers. Technology is making it possible for these banks to offer a variety of cash delivery services, including spot cash, to both the banked and the unbanked segments of the population, thereby ensuring customer loyalty and generating increased revenues due to customer experience. For example, Ali Hussain Prodhania, CEO of Agrani Exchange Singapore, says "...We have witnessed a 25% increase in revenues within three months of adopting the (RemitONE) system..."

A key advantage of using these technology platforms is that these banks' employees at the source, head-office and delivery branches are all empowered with instant access to business critical information to serve a multitude of customers within a short time-span, thereby ensuring enhanced customer experience.

The remittance industry is in the growth phase of the industry life-cycle and initiatives by the World Bank, awareness by International Association of Money Transfer Networks (IAMTN) and technology by RemitONE and others together are making it possible for remittance businesses to offer cheap money transfer rates to senders and receivers across the globe. Hopefully, the World Bank's goal of helping remittance receivers worldwide receive an extra $16 billion a year will be realised soon.

The HM Revenue and Customs are the supervisory authority for Money Service Businesses and ensure that the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 are upheld. The HMRC have developed their own guidance to these regulations which mentions in detail the legislation that money transfer, cheque encashment or Bureaux de Change businesses need to adhere to.  When the transfer of funds exceeds 1,000 euros, customer due diligence measures need to be applied.

"The $350 billion money transfer industry is rapidly evolving and we wanted to provide our customers with very advanced fraud prevention and money laundering checks integrated into our money transfer technology platforms. 192business are big players in the KYC market with a large number of international databases which will significantly enhance our KYC offering to clients", comments Aamer Abedi, Director of Marketing at RemitONE.

Michelle Dixon, Marketing Manager at 192business states, "The surge in money transfer is great for the industry but we know that our customers are keen to ensure they are protecting their business both from fraud and also adhering to the relevant sections of the Money Laundering Regulations. We are excited to be working with a highly experienced money transfer technology solutions provider like RemitONE whose clients can now make use of 192business' advanced KYC tools through the RemitONE systems."

Delegates from Al-Ansari Exchange, Citi, Eurogiro, Mi-Pay, Times of Money and Unistream discussed current industry issues and other developments in regulation and technology, where RemitONE hopes to play an integral role.   

Other highlights of the IAMTN event included the World bank's description of  the G8's 5x5 initiative which is designed to halve the global pricing of cross-border remittances over the coming 5 years. The GCC has performed well in relation to other regions with regards to remittance flows.

The demand for online remittance continues to gather momentum in the GCC. In the global marketplace, mobile remittance continues to be a hot topic.

RemitONE is already in talks with several key industry players in designing innovative solutions for banks, MTOs and other organisations.

Based on market research and customer feedback, RemitONE are now offering a new and innovative suite of money transfer software systems, including:

Online Remittance Module (ORM): The RemitONE ORM is ideal for remittance businesses wishing to offer online money transfer services to customers. With the ORM, customers can instantly send money online through a remittance business over a highly secure network. The ORM ensures AML & KYC compliance and can display account and transaction information to customers.

RemitONE Mobile Remittance Module (MRM): The RemitONE MRM is great for organisations wishing to offer mobile money transfer services to customers. With the MRM, customers can instantly send money through SMS to their family and friends. The MRM ensures AML & KYC compliance and can display account and transaction information to customers.

RemitONE Blacklist Checker Module (BCM): The RemitONE BCM ensures advanced AML & KYC compliance by linking with blacklists such as those prepared by OFAC and FinCen. The BCM monitors velocity and volume checks on remitters and beneficiaries before generating transactions.
            
Mr. Ziad Mannan, Director of R&D at RemitONE, says "Remittance businesses, Mobile and Internet Service Providers can make use of our latest solutions to empower their customers to instant access and enhanced control over the type of service they want, whilst ensuring AML and KYC compliance."

Prime Bank are currently focused on establishing relationships with several financial institutions and expanding their remittance business on a global scale.

Prime Bank realised they needed a powerful and reliable money transfer management solution that would enable them to operate in a centralised manner and offer optimum customer service. They researched RemitONE's Money Transfer Management Solution - the RemitONE MTMS - and concluded that it is the ideal system for enhancing their money transfer business and supplementing their ambitious growth plans. Prime Bank now plan to roll out the solution to manage their remittance operations worldwide.

With the RemitONE MTMS, Prime Bank will be able to provide a superior, rapid and secure service to their customers. The following are some of the features and benefits the RemitONE MTMS will offer Prime Bank:

• Spot cash remittance within minutes for both Prime Bank account holders and non-account holders
• Significantly enhanced remittance delivery options for the convenience of remitters and beneficiaries
• Improved business process management through seamless automation of remittance-related tasks
• Enhanced customer service through a centralised end-to-end money transfer management solution including instant SMS notification
• Empowered business users who can assist a multitude of customers
• Simplification of Prime Bank's remittance business' core accounting activities, thereby freeing up valuable staff time

Mr. Aamer Abedi, Director of Marketing, RemitONE, said "RemitONE will enable Prime Bank to offer their customers a fast, safe and secure service. The solution will also enable them to operate and expand effectively in multiple remittance corridors."

Agrani Bank engaged us because it wanted to improve its customer service. At the moment money transfers are processed manually and can take up to four days to reach the beneficiary account.

Agrani Bank needed an automated, web-based system to streamline its remittance business. It also wanted to offer customers popular same day services such as spot cash. RemitONE will allow Agrani Bank to upgrade its remittance processing and payment delivery infrastructure to offer exactly that and more.

With RemitONE Agrani Bank will be able to offer a much better, faster, and safer service to its clients which will include:

• Spot cash remittance for non-account holders as well as Agrani Bank customers
• Improved remittance delivery options to make it easier for remitters and  beneficiaries
• Reduced processing costs
• SMS notification within minutes of transactions being processed. Funds can be withdrawn the same day

Agrani Bank took a very detailed look at the RemitONE system and decided it was the ideal system to improve its remittance business. They plan to roll out the system on the Singapore - Bangladesh corridor in June this year.

Agrani Bank already has a very powerful delivery network and will be expanding its operation to Malaysia, then to the Middle East.

RemitONE seamlessly integrates the Debitac system with the banks' systems. It allows Debitac to provide a comprehensive and easy to use online service for its clients. Importantly it also speeds up the transfer process and eliminates mistakes.

Debitac chose RemitONE after looking at a number of similar products. It was very impressed after the demonstration and described the system as 'feature rich'. However, it was the responsiveness of our service and good communication that was the deciding factor.

Operating in Canada and the US, Debitac has extremely good relationships with a number of major Filipino Banks. Debitac also plans to expand its operation to China and India.

Since Debitac entered into partnership with RemitONE, it is in the final stages of negotiations with the Filipino Banks to use the integrated system. Within the next six months it is predicting around 500,000 transfers per month and is confident other banks will follow.

They can also use it wherever credit cards are accepted.

Because the Krores service does not rely on bank accounts, it has reached regions that are not normally served by money transfer companies. It is accepted in over 23 million places around the world.

The RemitONE system allows Krores to provide a fully integrated, automated service to its clients. It speeds up the transfer process so beneficiaries receive their funds faster.

Krores partnered with RemitONE after extensive research and evaluation of available money transfer systems. RemitONE's flexibility and high quality service were deciding factors in the choice.

The Krores money transfer card is a new concept, currently only available to customers in India. However, the company has plans to expand its operation to China and the Philippines. It aims to process tens of thousands of transactions per month.

Amongst other attendees, the following organisations have confirmed attendance:

• National Bank of Abu Dhabi
• UAE Exchange
• CitiBank
• Mi-Pay
• Dahabshiil
• Visa
• Mastercard

Topics for the conference include the relevance and methods of implementing anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism compliance. Regulations-compliance is an area in which RemitONE has worked extensively, and has an offering of software solutions to meet these needs.

Also scheduled for discussion is mainstream remittance, a subject that has been receiving little attention lately, but still constitutes the bulk of all business. 'It is interesting that there is significant news coverage of mobile payments but little of mainstream remittances. One of our tasks at IAMTN will be to raise media interest in the valuable work that all of our members undertake.' - Leon Isaacs, Managing Director of IAMTN.

And finally, mobile money transfer will be discussed, and how existing operators can extend in to this new and exciting area, including a short documentary film covering the topic.

RemitONE will be attending this conference, and will be available before and after the event to discuss how we can help you automate and grow your money transfer business. Talk to us at the event, or alternatively call us on +44 20 8099 5795 to arrange a meeting.

We hope to meet you there!

For more information on the conference visit http://mtd2009.iamtn.org