From Sending Money to Everyday Payments: The Next Chapter for Remittances

What if customers opened your app for more than sending money?

The remittance app is starting to become more than a place to make a transfer. As customers look to manage more of their financial needs in one place, providers have an opportunity to build more value around the transaction.

47% of consumers prioritised having a single platform to manage their financial services. The market is already responding. Remitly, for example, has introduced a Global Card that brings sending, spending, saving, receiving and getting paid together within one account.

For remittance providers, this shift creates a bigger commercial question: how do you make the app useful between transfers?

Adding relevant services can help providers:

Generate revenue beyond the transfer

Increase the value of each customer relationship

Give customers more reasons to return

Differentiate their proposition as transfer pricing becomes harder to compete on

So what does this look like in practice, and where should an MSB start?

What Makes a Money Transfer App a Payments App?

Value-added services can extend the role of a Money Service Business (MSB) beyond the transfer itself, creating additional revenue opportunities. Rather than building an entirely new product, operators can add services that fit naturally around their customers’ financial needs.

Here are some high-demand examples:

Airtime and data top-ups sent directly to recipients, making it easier to support family and friends abroad

eSIMs, particularly ideal for travel season or customers who travel frequently throughout the year.

Utility and government bill payments, including electricity, water and loans, helping customers support their loved ones’ regular expenses across borders

Gift/prepaid cards can load funds to spend across major retailers in sender or recipient countries, giving customers another way to send value

Together, these services help MSBs become less reliant on transfers, increase their customers’ lifetime value, and achieve healthier margins.

How Should Money Transfer Apps Adapt to Customer Behaviour?

Features alone don’t make an app feel like a payments platform; the interface does.

Leading with a balance and wallet view is what gives it that everyday, mini-bank feel.

Features alone don’t make an app feel like a payments platform. The experience does. A balance and wallet-led interface can make the app feel more like an everyday financial tool than somewhere customers only visit to send money.

One operator we work with, expanding its UK-to-Africa corridor, asked for exactly this: an interface where the receiver’s popular transfer method – wallet, to be the default transfer method instead of bank transfer to improve customer convenience and push more transactions.

Which Value-Added Services Would Work for You?

What works will depend on your corridors, customer behaviour and existing proposition. The better approach is to identify what your customers already need, connect it to your existing offering and build from there.

That could mean introducing eSIMs for customers who regularly travel internationally, bill payment for customers supporting family overseas, or gift cards for customers looking for convenient ways to spend.

Starting with one or two relevant services allows you to test demand, learn what customers use and build from evidence. It also limits the investment required before a new service has proven its value.

For example, in one modelled scenario, a gift card service introduced to a 50,000-customer base with 15% adoption generated an estimated £56,000 in annual revenue from that service alone.

You can see your own revenue potential through RemitONE’s free estimator tool: https://growth.remitone.com

Where to Get Started

Moving towards an everyday payments proposition does not have to mean rebuilding your entire platform.

Start with the customer. Look at how they use your service today, where demand is strongest and what they are already doing outside your platform.

From there, identify one or two services that make sense for your customers and corridors. Test them, measure adoption and expand based on what you learn.

The same applies to the app experience. If customers in one corridor behave differently from customers in another, your interface should be able to reflect that.

RemitONE supports both sides of this approach, from value-added services such as eSIMs, gift cards and bill payments to a customisable interface that can be configured around different corridors.

If you’re exploring what an everyday payments app could look like for your business, talk to our team. We’ll share what we’re seeing across the market and explore what makes sense based on your model and customers.

FAQ

What is an everyday payments app?
It is a shift from an app built primarily for sending money abroad to a platform customers can use more regularly for services such as receiving funds, wallet transfers, bill payments, top-ups and other value-added services alongside remittances.

Why are money transfer companies adding more payment services?
Customers are increasingly looking for more of their financial services in one place. Adding relevant services can make an app more useful between transfers, increase engagement and create additional revenue opportunities.

What value-added services can money transfer businesses offer?
Value-added services are additional products and services offered alongside the core money transfer experience. These can include eSIMs, gift cards, subscriptions, bill payments, utility top-ups and other services that give customers more reasons to use the platform beyond sending money.

RemitONE Webinar: Turn Transactions into New Revenue & Reduce Costs

Many cross-border payment providers are unaware of how much their compliance checks are costing them time and money.

With compliance costs rising, loyalty becoming harder to maintain, and margins under pressure, many providers are starting to rethink how they grow profitably without adding complexity.

In our latest webinar, we explored how money transfer operators, fintechs, and payment providers are using AI and value-added services to reduce operational costs, improve approvals, and unlock new revenue opportunities around the transaction.

What you’ll take away:

Cut compliance costs with centralised PEPs & sanction checks

Improve transaction approvals and speed with AI

Automate manual compliance processes and reduce workload

Prevent fraud and speed up onboarding ID verification with liveness checks

How value-added services like open banking, eSIMs, airtime, and payout aggregation create new revenue

If you missed the live session or want to revisit the strategies discussed, you can watch the full replay below.

As competition tightens across cross-border payments, growth is becoming less about doing more, and more about operating smarter.

The providers pulling ahead are reducing friction, improving customer experience, and creating more value around every transaction, while keeping costs under control.

If you’d like to explore any of the topics discussed in more detail or see how they could work for your business model, feel free to reach out to the team at marketing@remitone.com or book a free call with Oussama.

How Money Service Businesses Can Stay Resilient During Political Instability

In today’s climate, political tensions are already shaping how money moves across borders. For money service businesses in cross-border payments, this can mean adapting to changing regulations, shifting corridor dynamics, and evolving customer behaviours.

While these situations can bring pressure, they also highlight an opportunity to build long-term resilience, as those who are equipped with the right tools and strategies can continue operating smoothly and supporting their customers without disruption.

Digitisation: keep funds moving

Let’s explore how your money transfer operations can remain stable in the current environment.

During periods of disruption, customers tend to gravitate towards faster, more accessible, and mobile-first options, prioritising reliability and speed over traditional in-person services.

Mobile wallets and open banking allow customers to send money securely, instantly, and without relying on physical locations.

By enabling digital access, businesses can ensure continuity, improve convenience, and meet customers where they are, helping transactions remain seamless, even as the landscape shifts.

Data shows:

5.2 billion people used digital wallets globally in 2025, over 60% of the world’s population.

Visa and Mastercard pilots have shown stablecoins fees to be less than 1%, helping to improve margins for money service businesses (MSBs)

By embracing digital channels, businesses can gain:

Operational continuity, even if branches or corridors are disrupted
Lower costs and faster transfers for your customers
Future-ready infrastructure, prepared for new trends like CBDCs and digital-first remittances

In short, the more digital your business, the easier it is to keep operations flowing. We’ve also kept this in mind by embedding digitisation at the core of our RemitONE system, with open banking and wallets integrated, alongside a customisable app for our clients to stay relevant to their customers’ changing needs and continue moving forward.

If you’re interested in these tools to future-proof your operations, you can get in touch at marketing@remitone.com or see which fit best based on your needs by booking a free demo

Strategic planning: adapting to disruption with AI

Having clear contingency plans in place before further problems appear is crucial, and technology plays an increasingly important role here. AI and automation are helping financial institutions detect risks earlier, anticipate fraud spikes, and maintain operational continuity during turbulent periods where they’re most exposed. Over 70% of financial institutions in the UK are already using AI in their workflows. In the same way, our AI tools help automate FX rates and fees to optimise margins, which you can see in action.

But resilience isn’t just about technology; it’s also how to stay afloat without it. If systems temporarily go down or digital channels are disrupted, businesses need reliable fallback methods to stay connected with their customers. Simple measures such as SMS notifications, alternative payment rails, or backup service channels can make the difference between a minor disruption and a full operational shutdown.

Ultimately, strategic planning ensures your customers never feel the disruption, even as the environment around them changes.

Regulations: staying compliant when the rules keep changing

If there’s one area businesses can’t afford to overlook during political uncertainty, it’s regulation. Sanctions lists change, compliance requirements tighten, and new rules can appear almost overnight. The UK’s move to a single sanctions list in January 2026, designed to simplify and clarify checks, is a good example of how fast the landscape can shift.

Keeping up with these changes manually can quickly become overwhelming. An oversight or delayed update can lead to heavy penalties, frozen transactions, or even the loss of operating licences.

That’s why automation is becoming essential. Having compliance systems that update regulatory lists and monitoring requirements in real time helps reduce risk and removes the constant pressure of manual checks. We provide this with our RemitONE Regulatory Compliance Manager (RCOM™).

It brings everything in one place – with over 350 global sanctions lists, real-time alerts, automated screening against 1.7M+ PEP records, and advanced reporting so teams don’t miss anything critical. It also provides full transaction visibility and configurable compliance rules to help regulators and financial institutions monitor activity, set specific rules, and stay ahead of regulatory changes without adding operational strain.

Compliance can run quietly in the background with the right tools, giving MSBs peace of mind to focus on growing.

If you’d like to know more about RCOM™, you can get in touch by booking a demo or emailing marketing@remitone.com for our brochure or any questions.

Diversifying corridors: never rely on just one market

In cross-border payments, relying heavily on a single corridor can quickly become a vulnerability. Especially when political tensions escalate, certain regions may face restrictions, sanctions, or banking disruptions, bringing transfers to an immediate halt.

But when one corridor slows down, having others already active allows your business to keep funds moving and revenue flowing.

Global remittance flows are expected to hit $5.4 trillion by 2030, driven by increasingly diverse diaspora communities sending money across multiple corridors worldwide. For money transfer operators, this creates opportunities to expand into new corridors that better serve their customers.

Diversifying corridors not only reduces operational risk; it also opens new revenue and strengthens connections with different diaspora communities.

However, a main challenge many banks and MSBs face is being slowed down by long licensing approval timelines when trying to enter new markets.

Many are turning to the Remittance-as-a-Service (RaaS) solution instead, as it allows businesses to enter new corridors in a matter of weeks while testing and adapting to new markets without the usual upfront commitment.

This makes it easier for MSBs to stay agile, respond to changing conditions, and gradually expand their reach, while continuing to operate within a compliant framework and explore new revenue opportunities across different corridors.

If you’d like to explore how this could enable faster expansion, you can book a call with our team to walk through it in more detail here: https://calendly.com/remitone-oussama/free-30min-consultation-website?

Building resilience for whatever comes next

Global uncertainties are realities the remittance industry will continue to face. While no business can predict exactly when disruptions will happen, the ones that stay ahead are those that build resilience into their operations through digitisation, strong compliance processes, strategic planning, and diversified corridors.

By putting the right systems and strategies in place, MSBs can continue doing what matters most: keeping funds moving for the communities that rely on them, no matter the external pressures.

If you’re looking to strengthen your operations and stay prepared for whatever comes next, explore the tools available through RemitONE, designed to support growth, stability, and compliance across global remittance operations.

You can book a call with our team or if you have any questions, email us at: marketing@remitone.com

Episode 6: RaaS Explained – How Banks and Fintechs Can Expand Cross-Border Without Licensing

This year, something has shifted. Banks and large fintechs are no longer asking if they should expand cross-border—they’re asking how to do it faster? Reduce regulatory friction? Avoid locking yourself into multi-year commitments?

Some regions like the UK are looking to introduce a fast-track licensing regime, which offers provisional approval for up to 18 months until full authorisation is processed. While it’s a positive step, it’s only available for small fintechs and doesn’t remove the complexity that comes with entering new markets.

That’s why more money service businesses are turning to RaaS (Remittance as a Service) and in this episode we’ll be diving into how it can unlock new revenue and growth.

You’ll discover:

Why adoption is accelerating – what’s changed, and why banks are reassessing their cross-border strategy now

What onboarding really looks like – from qualification to integration and going live.

New revenue opportunities – how to test corridors, capture more value, and grow without being constrained by provisional licences

Choosing the right RaaS partner – the criteria that matter most when assessing flexibility, compliance, and long-term fit

Tune into the full episode

What the UK’s Fast-Track Licence Means for Fintechs Expanding Cross-Border

Expansion is a present-day requirement for banks and fintechs, but the routes to market are not one-size-fits-all.

Fast-track or provisional licences can offer a direct path into new corridors, yet they come with operational demands, regulatory ownership, and long-term obligations that may not suit every business model. At the same time, alternative approaches to expansion are gaining attention.

We’ll compare fast-track licensing and Remittance-as-a-Service (RaaS) so you can be more confident in choosing the option best suited to your needs and goals.

Why RaaS is Gaining Momentum

RaaS has been gaining more of an uptake by banks and fintechs because it allows them to:

Grow new revenue: capture customers rapidly on the send side without losing time to regulatory delays

Move faster to market: start offering cross-border services immediately, without waiting for provisional or full licences.

Reduce internal strain: compliance, onboarding, and transaction flows are handled by the RaaS provider, freeing internal teams to focus on strategy and growth.

Test and scale strategically: test new corridors without committing to long-term infrastructure or licensing obligations.

RaaS vs Fast-Track Licensing

The UK’s provisional licence is designed to help early stage fintechs get to market sooner, but it comes with limits:

Time-bound operations (up to 18 months)

Internal compliance and operational demands still remain

Limited flexibility to test new markets or scale quickly

RaaS complements and even accelerates this process. In short, it gives you options and flexibility that a provisional licence alone cannot provide.

What This Means for Your Money Service Business (MSB)

For banks and fintechs looking to grow cross-border without unnecessary risk or delay, RaaS offers a practical path forward:

Unlock revenue from existing customers more efficiently

Free internal teams from operational bottlenecks

Expand strategically while staying fully compliant

Test new markets before committing long-term

Choosing the Right RaaS Provider

Not all RaaS providers are created equal, and the right partner can make a real difference to your speed, compliance, and strategic flexibility. When evaluating options, you should consider:

Regulatory coverage: Ensure the provider understands your key markets and can manage compliance requirements across multiple jurisdictions.

Platform maturity: Look for a solution that’s proven, reliable, and capable of handling the scale and complexity of your operations.

Operational support: A strong provider will manage onboarding, transaction flows, and reporting, reducing internal strain.

Value-added services: eSIMs, airtime, open banking are just some examples of how you can generate more revenue around the transaction whilst providing more benefits to your customer.

Long-term partnership mindset: Beyond technology, the best providers work with you strategically, helping you test, scale, and optimise your cross-border operations.

At RemitONE, we’ve built our RaaS solution with these principles in mind. It’s designed to help banks and fintechs move quickly into new markets while keeping compliance front of mind, simplifying onboarding, and providing full transparency across transactions.

More than just a solution, you gain a partner who understands both the operational and strategic challenges, helping you navigate complexity with confidence.

Our RaaS is available for sending markets across the UK, Europe, and the US.

Next Steps

The remittance market is moving fast, and the right approach can help you enter new corridors with speed and confidence.

If you’d like to explore how RaaS could fit with your growth plans, book a free call with our team.

Update: Integrated PEP & Sanctions Lookup Checks

From 1 March 2026, we will introduce an integrated screening service that covers both sanctions and PEPs lookup checks for each transaction on the beneficiary and sender.

Sanctions and Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) screening is a regulatory requirement across both sending and receiving markets. In the UK, this is mandated by the FCA, with similar obligations enforced by regulators globally. These checks must be completed on a transaction-by-transaction basis to ensure ongoing compliance.

Our platform already supports sanctions screening and is routinely reviewed by regulators across multiple jurisdictions. Building on this foundation, we are now extending to include PEP checks, enabling full sanctions and PEP screening to be completed seamlessly in one place.

This enhancement reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining a robust, regulator-aligned compliance framework that our clients can rely on as they scale across corridors and markets. By centralising these checks within our platform, we help ensure consistency, reduce operational friction, and support confident regulatory engagement with regulators and partners.

PEPs and sanctions screening is a mandatory requirement and must be applied on a transaction-by-transaction basis. If you are reviewing your current setup or evaluating providers, contact us to understand how integrated screening is delivered within our platform at marketing@remitone.com

The Next Step for African Central Banks: Technology-Enabled Compliance Solutions

Across Africa, central banks are under increasing pressure to improve transparency and oversight in cross-border payments. As digital transactions grow, the need for real-time monitoring and reliable compliance tools has never been greater.

Common Challenges Regulators Face

Many regulators share similar problems:

Limited visibility of FX rates applied by Money Transfer Operators

Difficulty tracking USD and EUR inflows into the banking system

Risks of structuring and smurfing in remittances

Uncertainty around governing crypto-assets and stablecoins

Pressure to adopt AI responsibly

Balancing financial inclusion with strong compliance

The Solution: Introducing Regulatory Compliance Manager

Many central banks are now turning to technology to tackle these growing challenges. That’s why we at RemitONE developed our Regulatory Compliance Manager (RCOM™), empowering regulators and central banks to:

Gain instant visibility of cross-border money movements and FX rates.

Automate oversight with configurable compliance rules.

Access actionable intelligence through advanced reporting and analytics.

With RCOM™, regulators can make proactive, data-driven decisions — turning compliance into a strategic advantage.

Those who move first are already seeing results. Find out how our solution can increase visibility for your central bank by booking a free call with Ababacar Seck, our Managing Director in Africa.

Upcoming Webinar: AI in Cross-Border Payments – Winning Customer Loyalty and Cutting Fraud

Only 16% of cross-border payment customers stay loyal to the same provider.

That means most are just one bad experience away from switching, often due to slow transfers, fraud scares, or compliance headaches.

In this 30-minute RemitONE webinar, you’ll explore how AI is transforming cross-border payments by helping you tackle these challenges head-on.

You’ll discover how to:
💡 Use AI to retain customers and personalise payment experiences
🛡️ Detect and prevent fraud without slowing transactions
⚙️ Apply practical AI frameworks to boost compliance and efficiency

Plus, catch a live demo of our AI-powered loyalty use case in action.

📅 Tuesday 11 November 2025

🕒 15:00–15:30 GMT

Bring your questions, we’ll be answering them live!

Secure your seat now, as spaces are limited: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/3acd679a-a6a8-4182-9388-09b9403ff629@36d5614f-f651-4945-9632-7053acdae73a

Meet RemitONE at Singapore Fintech Festival to Explore AI-Driven Cross-Border Payment Solutions

We’re heading to the Singapore Fintech Festival, 12^th – 14^th November, to connect with businesses looking to scale. Oussama Kseibati, Head of Business Solutions, will be at the event to explore cross-border payment opportunities with our AI, open banking and blockchain solutions.

Whether you’re expanding into sending markets like the UK and Europe, paying out in asian markets, or navigating complex compliance demands, our innovative solutions can help fuel your growth and unlock new revenue streams

We provide the building blocks to future-proof your operations, even if cross-border payments aren’t your core offering, with solutions such as:

White-label Money Transfer Software (online and app)
RaaS (Remittance-as-a-Service) and AI-driven automation
Automated KYC/AML
Scalable payout infrastructure to new send and payout markets
AI-driven payment optimisation

To arrange a place and time, please email us at: marketing@remitone.com

About RemitONE

RemitONE is an award-winning, leading provider of money transfer software solutions for banks, telcos, and money transfer operators (MTOs) worldwide. With multi-channel access, including agent networks, online, and mobile, RemitONE empowers organisations to streamline and scale their remittance operations.

Expand Your Money Service Business in Europe without Local Licences or Bank Setup

Most Banks and Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) that handle payouts rely on international partners to send them transactions. But what if you could manage both sides of the corridor and keep more margin?

Watch the short video to find out how:

Oussama breaks down how our Remittance-as-a-Service model lets you:

Launch send operations from the UK and Europe in weeks

Avoid waiting months for licences or bank approvals

Get a white-labelled app and website

Tap into ~€130B in remittances sent from Europe and ~£20B from the UK alone

Looking to grow across borders without the heavy costs? This could be the missing piece to help you do that.

Book a free call with our expert Oussama to explore how this can work for your business: