Remittances - How To Shorten The Long Way Home

by Gera Voorrips, Programme Manager Remittances, ING Payments Retail Europe

[ING Group] ING remittances study sheds light on latest innovations in products and networks.This inventory of the remittances market presents an analyst’s view on the most important remittance product types as well as the main players and the networks used to channel remittances. Also, the latest innovations and their potential are assessed (such as mobile-payments, pre-paid cards).

It is concluded that the ‘cash-to-cash’ remittance product, offered by Money Transfer Organisations (MTOs) such as Western Union, is still overwhelmingly leading in the market. Yet some new entrants appear, such as pilots that use mobile phones for (part of) the remittance chain or initiatives where beneficiaries can withdraw money from an ATM without the need for a card. Most promising pilots consist of alliances between Mobile-payments providers and Card schemes or Money Transfer Organisations.

Nevertheless, the success of a remittance service will be heavily dependent not only on the technology used but even more on the ‘first mile’ and ‘last mile’, e.g. the entire distribution chain, starting from the sender who deposits the money and ending with the receiver who obtains the money sent.

The study is prepared by ING Payments Retail Europe. This ING unit investigates innovations in payments and assesses the potential for ING business units.

For more information contact gera.voorrips@ing.com or pre@ing.com.

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