Remitly CEO Says Digital Driving Remittances to New Heights Amid Economic Uncertainty

Uncertainty is the watchword of the current global macroeconomic environment. Tariffs are being raised, lowered, paused. GDP is slowing, almost no matter where you look. But there are some constants amid the turmoil.

Remittances are consistent, as workers around the world send money home to friends and family, to help cover living expenses, medical needs or tuition. According to The World Bank, remittances to low-to-middle income countries like India, Mexico and the Philippines were up 5.8% in 2024 at $685 billion.

As Karen Webster, CEO of PYMNTS remarked to Matt Oppenheimer, Remitly’s CEO, “There’s a grit and tenacity to find employment regardless of where it is — even in an uncertain environment.”  And with that tenacity comes the need to send money across borders.

“It’s hard to overstate the relevance of remittances in the global economy,” she said.  Given the fact that 250 million people live outside the country in which they were born, the addressable market for making cross-border payments seamless and easy is formidable.

But there are still some headwinds to that ease of use — chiefly in economies that still rely on cash. Cross-border payments have also historically been marked by delays and lack of transparency around fees.

The digital shift in remittances has made great strides since the pandemic, said Oppenheimer, who noted that he and Webster have known each other for close to a decade. Within Remitly’s own disbursement network, digital remittances have gained ground, increasing its share of cross-border payments by 300 basis points in the latest quarter.

Forging an Ecosystem

The road’s been long: Oppenheimer co-founded the firm in 2011, after a stint living in Africa and using M-Pesa to pay for just about everything.

“I thought, everyone’s going to want to send money to a mobile wallet across the globe,” said Oppenheimer.

Remitly launched in the Philippines with a mobile wallet but found that it needed to cater to a slew of remittance options including bank deposits and cash pickup. The takeaway, he said, is that every country is different, and the digital adoption curve can be markedly different country by country.

Remitly now operates in 170 countries, forging a cross-border ecosystem that connects banking partners, agents and digital wallets.

“I’m proud of the fact that 93% of customers complete a transaction in less than an hour,” he told Webster, drawing an analogy with Amazon. Like the eCommerce giant, Remitly is able to improve transparency for cross-border money flows, underscoring to senders just where and when the transactions are being sent and received.

Read more: 55% of US Consumers Poised to Adopt Digital Wallets for Cross-Border Payments

“We’re solving the complexity,” he said, “and we’re well positioned to do it at size and scale, and to get that 93% up to as close to 100% as possible. We can become the default ‘brand’ and way of sending money internationally.”

As he added, “Trust is hard to build with any financial services company.” Webster concurred, stating, “People want to be able to trust that when they’re getting $200, they can actually count on the $200 being available for them to spend.”

Delving into market corridors, Oppenheimer said that Remitly “originates” payments from 30 countries where individuals send funds. The largest receiving countries are Mexico, India and the Philippines, but the non-top three countries grew by 45% last quarter and accounted for the majority of Remitly’s sales, topping $1 billion annualized (first quarter sales grew by 34% year over year).

The Global Ecosystem

Beyond the burgeoning use of digital wallets, Oppenheimer asserted that banks have a critical role in the ecosystem, as Remitly sends money to more than 4 billion bank accounts and mobile wallets; there are also 400,000 cash pickup locations.

“In order to build out those global rails and move the amount of money that we are moving on behalf of our customers,” he said, “we partner with banks across the globe for funds acceptance” and for funds disbursement. The infrastructure buildout, he said, is “what keeps our service fast and lower cost.”

In recent years, Remitly has seen growth in “high amount” senders and micro businesses — where in the former case, individuals send $5,000 or as much as $10,000 cumulatively over a period of a month or three. The microbusinesses, he said, pay contractors in other countries and manage cash.

Looking ahead, Oppenheimer said that Remitly will explore cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, and recently unveiled an artificial intelligence-driven virtual assistant to improve customer service.

“Our vision, in one sentence,” Oppenheimer told Webster, “is to transform lives with trusted financial services that transcend borders.”