Morocco, and Mauritania. Good
growth was then registered in markets
such as Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia,
Ghana and of late Uganda. Other
countries in Africa showing good
signs of growth such as Western
Africa region of Cameron, Ivory
Coast, Senegal, Niger, Burkina Faso.
We are now covering most of Africa.
What about other regions?
A few years back, key remittance
markets were India, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, and the Philippines. We
still refer to them as the traditional
markets. We have grown in Asia. The
Philippines has been a good market
for us. We are constantly growing
our footprint in markets such as
Indonesia, Thailand. China will soon
be under the network, where we are
working with strong partners, which
we expect to be a high inbound
market. From source markets, besides
the GCC countries, Jordan and
Lebanon, we also have a large market
in South Africa, UK and Turkey.
We have witnessed growth in the
Scandinavian market, North America
and Hong Kong.
How would you describe the
remittances business within the GCC
Markets (Cooperation Council for the
Arab States of the Gulf ?)
The GCC market collectively does
over US$100 billion. If you include
the Levant ( Jordan and Lebanon),
that comes to about $110 Billion,
which is approximately 18% of the
global remittances market. The region
now has two of the world’s leading
remittances market. The USA is the
leading market in the world with a
volume of about US$135 Billion. Next
is Saudi Arabia at US $45 Billion and
then UAE at US$30 Billion. Qatar
and Kuwait are also over the US$10
Billion category. Oman and Bahrain
are also important. Hence, the region
is a key contributor in the remittances
market.
How do you develop your
partnership globally?
We keep developing partnerships –
60 MAL 17/17 ISSUE
‘‘ This business
operates on two
main fronts; one
is push and the
other is pull. Push
is through the
agents. Our agents
are happy with
us because of the
model that we have
with them especially
the revenue sharing
aspect, which is a
notch better than
competition. We
also work closely
with our partners in
terms of identifying
the right corridors,
the rates and
fees, consumer
promotions, and
campaigns.’’
it is a continuous process. We have
partnerships around the world, that is
how we have managed to cover 160
markets globally. We also have some
indirect partnerships, for instance,
with Ria and World Remit, global
players in the remittances business.
than competition. We also work
closely with our partners in terms of
identifying the right corridors, the
rates and fees, consumer promotions,
and campaigns.
For the end-customers, we have a
number of benefits. For instance,
we don’t charge the back-end.
Some of our competitors charge
on both the sending and receiving
side. We only have one charge from
the send-side. Secondly, we don’t
charge the cancellation fees. For
instance, if you are sending money,
but then you come back after a few
minutes to cancel, we return the
entire amount, both the principal
and the fees, whereas some of
our competitors only return the
principal, and hold the fees.
We also send a text message to the
remitter as soon as the beneficiary
receives the cash. Very important,
we are the lowest on charges. We
have tried to keep our fees as low
as possible. In addition, the use of
mobile/technology, for instance, after
we introduced Mpesa about 3 years
back, our Kenya business has grown
tremendously.
Further, our speed of service as 52%
of the transactions through Xpress
Money can be completed within 60
seconds of execution. That implies
the receiver in a different country
can pick the money even before
the remitter has left the outlet. The
balance 48% can be collected within
10 minutes, which arises due to
compliance requirements. Finally,
we have high level of compliance.
We have never had compliance
issues.
What will make a customer choose
Xpress Money from competition? That leads to the next question. Fees
on remittances are always perceived
as a barrier in deepening remittances.
How are you addressing this issue?
This business operates on two main
fronts; one is push and the other is
pull. Push is through the agents. Our
agents are happy with us because
of the model that we have with
them especially the revenue sharing
aspect, which is a notch better The global average fee for remittance
now stands at 7.5%. At Xpress Money,
we are at 2%. This goes to show that
we don’t pinch the pockets of our
customers. Regardless of the corridor
around the world, our fees are very
affordable.