Money transfer platform WorldRemit announced a new partnership with Alipay that will make it easier for users to do cross-border transfers and make payments worldwide, a press release said. WorldRemit Chief Commercial Officer Tamer El-Emary said the partnership would focus on “innovation, customer experience and speed to market.”
The partnership makes sense, both entities said, because many remittances are still completed offline and in person all over the world. Many of these consist of money being taken to a physical location, which means high transfer fees.
Under the new WorldRemit and Alipay partnership, though, things would go in a more mobile direction. The merger would particularly benefit migrant workers. Costs would go down, too, according to the press release.
WorldRemit APAC Managing Director Scott Eddington said the merger would benefit the Chinese migrant community in New Zealand, as there is a high population of these people in the area. Chinese migrants sent home around $67 billion in remittances in 2018. With statistics like these, digitizing the process makes sense.
There’s also a high number of mobile payments in China, with 86 percent of the population making mobile payments last year.
Alipay’s international money transfer services are now available in more than 40 countries. Recently, eScooter company Helbiz announced that Alipay would help to expand its sales, and reach more Chinese customers during the Lunar New Year holiday.
WorldRemit, founded in 2010 in the U.K., employs more than 800 people and operates more than 6,500 money transfer paths worldwide — in anywhere from 50 to 150 countries. Last year, it raised $175 million in venture funds to go toward global expansion. The U.S. became the company’s second-largest market last year, and it has services available in all 50 states.
The company also wants to launch a new money transfer service for small and medium-sized businesses that have international operations.