Episode 10: The New Rules of Cross-Border Payments
Over the past year, we’ve spoken to operators, technology leaders and payments experts about what’s changing in cross-border payments.
For this special episode, we went back through those conversations and pulled together five practical rules for money transfer operators growth, covering diversification, AI, customer retention, new revenue opportunities and when to build versus partner.
From entering new markets faster to using AI to automate operational processes, this episode explores the practical steps money transfer operators can take to reduce costs, protect margins and build sustainable growth.
What you’ll take away:
- How to expand into new corridors in weeks with half of the upfront cost and more network
- Where to start with AI without overhauling your entire operation
- How to act while a customer is still deciding between providers
- Where new revenue opportunities can exist between transfers
- When to build in-house and when partnering can get you to market faster
Your next stage of growth starts with the right foundations.
From entering new markets faster to automating operations and expanding what you offer customers, RemitONE gives money transfer operators the technology and infrastructure to move from strategy to action, without building from scratch.
If you’re thinking about what comes next for your business, talk to our team to explore what could work for your model and needs.
Travel eSIMs: unlock more revenue from your existing customers
The customer relationship is changing
For years, remittance businesses have measured their customer relationship in a single moment: the transfer. Most other customer spending has happened outside that relationship.
That’s starting to change. Global travel eSIM spend is projected to grow from $1.8 billion in 2025 to $8.7 billion by 2030
It’s one of the fastest-growing categories in consumer telecom. The operators T that succeed will not only be those that move money well. They will be the ones that stay relevant to customers between transfers.
The potential revenue opportunity
Take 50,000 active customers: at 20% adoption and £40 average annual spend, that’s £400,000 flowing through the business, with a meaningful share retained as margin, scaling with the customer base rather than transaction volume.
Offer travel eSIMs through your own brand
This is why RemitONE has introduced travel eSIMs within its platform.
Money Transfer Operator (MTO), banks and fintechs running on RemitONE can offer customers the ability to purchase and top up mobile data for use abroad, through their own branded customer experience. They can introduce an additional service without building telecom infrastructure or hiring specialist teams.
Stay relevant between transfers
The model is simple.
A customer already using your app to send money can also access and purchase a travel eSIM. This helps keep your brand relevant beyond the transfer and gives customers another reason to return.
Estimate your travel eSIM revenue
How much could travel eSIMs generate for your business?
Use the RemitONE Growth Hub calculator to estimate the potential opportunity based on your active customer base.
Calculate your potential travel eSIM revenue
Prefer to discuss the opportunity directly?
Email marketing@remitone.com or book a call with our team below:
Webinar Replay: Unlock More Value from Every Remittance Transaction
Remittances are evolving, and growth is no longer just about moving money.
In our recent 30-minute webinar, we explored how leading providers are unlocking value around each transaction to drive smarter growth.
Here’s what you’ll discover:
- Faster account-to-account payment initiation using open banking.
- Prepaid cards give receivers faster access to funds and greater flexibility for everyday and online spend.
- Simple, convenience-led services such as travel eSIMs that strengthen customer loyalty.
- Broader and more reliable payout options across key corridors.
Watch to see how these capabilities can be introduced without adding operational complexity or risk, all through a single, production-ready platform.
Your flows might be performing today, but as others introduce value-added services around the transaction, it’s only a matter of time before your customers move to them.
If you’d like to see how these strategies could work for your business, our team is happy to walk you through practical next steps and explore how to tailor them to your existing operations. You can book a call here:
Episode 5: Your 2026 Headstart – Trends, Predictions & Insights Shaping Cross-Border Payments
2026 is shaping up to be a year of rapid change, and standing still is no longer an option. The question is: how will your business not just keep up, but grow on top?
In Episode 5 of the RemitONE podcast, Natalie Perkins sits down with Aamer Abedi (CMO) and Oussama Kseibati (Head of Business Solutions) to break down the trends shaping the year—AI-driven automation, evolving fraud patterns, shifting customer behaviour, and early Web 3.0 use cases—and what they mean for your business.
Those who act early will be best placed to grow, protect margins, and stay ahead. If you want to discover the forces redefining cross-border payments and turn them into opportunities, this episode is your roadmap.
You’ll uncover:
• How agile MSBs are outpacing larger incumbents across key corridors
• The product areas creating meaningful new revenue channels
• A fast-growing opportunity expanding 85% year-on-year
• What the convergence of remittances and payments means for long-term strategy
• The early indicators pointing to next year’s competitive advantage
Watch the full episode below:
2026 won’t slow down. Adapt, diversify, and seize the tools that will put your business ahead of the competition. Book a free call with our team, and we’ll walk you through a solution tailored to your needs.
Add a mobile plan to the digital wallet to generate loyalty, value and relevance
This article is brought to you in partnership with eSIM Go, written by Mitchell Fordham, Chief Revenue Officer & Co-founder at eSIM Go.
Payment brands, neobanks and other fintechs are continuously seeking innovative ways to foster loyalty, drive account registrations, and reduce customer acquisition costs (CAC). More and more have found it in a new category of digital service – eSIM mobile data and phone plans – that complements existing payment services and adds value to premium subscriptions.
The limited value of traditional loyalty perks and rewards
Consumer banking and payment services have entertained all kinds of perks and loyalty rewards with varying success. The more bizarre examples of waffle irons, garden tools and even hunting rifles tend to emanate from bricks and mortar institutions, while neobanks and digital payments providers gravitate towards virtual, subscription-based add-ons. These are either useful (e.g. gym membership), delightful (e.g. cinema tickets, free coffee) or a judicious mixture of both that also imbues feelings of safety, trust and permanence (e.g. personal or travel insurance).
It sounds great in theory, but the value quickly drains out of these for two reasons: 1) they aren’t necessarily essential, and 2) it isn’t obvious how they benefit the customer relationship.
Mobile data and phone plans, by contrast, not only create this additional value but also act as both a flywheel for perpetually evolving value and a conduit for a more complete, trusted and personalised customer relationship.
A digital connection that ties digital customers to your digital brand experience
eSIMs are virtual SIM cards, and this subtle change in telco technology makes it significantly easier for fintechs to not only offer mobile plans as an added customer perk, but to do so under their own brand. Having been held back by the historic constraints of plastic SIM card distribution and support infrastructure, payment providers and neobanks like Western Union and others have moved to capitalise on this digital evolution in mobile. The smartest are viewing this as a channel for achieving customer loyalty and other business objectives – understanding that it’s more than just a revenue generator.
All this is happening at a time when consumers have never been more reliant upon data connectivity both at home and especially when traveling abroad.
eSIMs in action
Western Union launched its eSIM offering in March, in partnership with eSIM Go. For them, equipping digital wallet customers with global connectivity possibilities serves the dual purpose of traveling with ease and optimising access to digital banking services from anywhere. Western Union eSIMs give customers hassle-free access to wallet-friendly data roaming, either to use on their next foreign trip or to effortlessly send to family and friends living abroad.
At the launch of the service, Western Union’s Head of Global Ecosystem Partnerships, James Osterloh, said: “We are delighted that, with this innovative service we enable our digital wallet customers to have full control over their connectivity needs as well as their finances, adding further value when they use our product.”
What connectivity does for customer acquisition and loyalty
eSIMs help consumers ‘beat the system’ and avoid expensive data roaming charges when traveling abroad. They also fit snugly within traditional loyalty schemes, representing an achievable reward that scales from less than $5 to over $100 per redemption.
The impetus for a branded eSIM service might begin as a subscription perk providing added value to customers, but it’s always got that scope to go on and open new avenues for continuous engagement. That’s because connectivity is a license to connect. It’s a new touchpoint; a bridge that, with permission, you can meet in the middle with your customers. Not only enabling them to use connectivity-reliant digital payment services more frequently, but also – for example – allowing fintech providers to harness valuable data on customer behaviour and preferences to use in delivering hyper-personalised content and offers.
It’s a future worth exploring. Rest assured, your competitors already are, and your customers won’t be far behind.
Meet eSIM Go at IPR Global 2024
Meet Platinum sponsors, eSIM Go at IPR Global this September. Don’t miss out on the unique opportunity to connect with top decision-makers and industry giants.
Spaces are limited, get tickets today: https://global2024.ipr-events.com/
