Money Transfer and Remittance Insights
A comprehensive Overview of the Money Transfer Business
The book from an industry insider covers all aspects of the money transfer industry including the market, competition, growth trends, marketing, product, pricing, corridors, digital vs retail and many other topics
Content
Remittance Market Intel
Remittance/money transfer business dynamics & developments
Key players and advantages/disadvantages
Market trends money transfer
Marketing
In the highly competitive money transfer market an optimal marketing strategy is critical, including
Immigrant segmentation and targeting
Channel selection and prioritization around money transfer
Digital paid
Digital owned
Non-digital ( radio, cinema, etc) and
Non digital Out-of-Home (OOH)
Creative
Campaigns in local languages
Dynamic content around pricing and funds-out
Strong measurement and optimization capabilities on CAC/LTV ratio
Ratings & Reviews
Lifecycle marketing/CRM, including retention
Owned assets such as landing pages, blogs, the homepage and app store listings
Refer a friend and loyalty programs to drive retention
Digital and offline marketing agency selection and management
Ethnic marketing
Ethnic creative
Ethnic holidays & celebrations
Digital campaigns targeting ethnic segments digitally and offline
Identification and engagement at ethnic events or religious facilities
Funds-in/out
It is critical to posses the right pay-in and pay-out methods for money transfer
Funds-In
For most countries this consists of cards, account funded and increasingly open banking. The payment methods will vary by cost, conversion and retention metrics so the right selection and vendor contracts/pricing are critical.
Funds-Out
It is critical to posses the right funds out methods, including the desired currency. This is primarily cash for the established players such as Western Union and Ria, but increasingly pay-out to wallets, bank accounts and cards (e.g. VISA direct). For African corridors integration into the most common wallets is important.
Product
An appealing money transfer product will be essential to drive low acquisition costs and retention. Key topics here are the product design, the product features and the form factors (app, responsive design, etc). It is critical to be able to measure product performance for example by measuring the conversion funnel for new and existing customers. Localizing the experience for corridors and funds-in/out methods is also important for success. Some companies increasingly offer products adjacent to money transfer services such as a Digital Bank account and card (Western Union in Germany, Italy and Poland) and a wallet with a card (Wise). Some of this expertise is acquired (Remitly with Rewire acquisition), through Consultants or in-house.
Reporting/
Analytics
The money transfer business will need to posses the right online reporting tools that leverage real-time data and allow for appropriate filtering to drill down as well as analytic capabilities.
Pricing
Pricing plays a critical role in the success of the money transfer business.
New customer pricing
Many digital players offer a “first transfer free” value proposition, combined with a preferential FX. Some provide coupons (Worldremit), while others apply the discount directly (Remitly).
Existing customers
Some companies such as Western Union differentiate between new and existing money transfer customer pricing
Channel differentiation
Most companies will have pricing that differentiates by funds-in method. Players with an agent network such as Western Union and Ria also have typically higher prices for agent payments vs digital.
Corridor pricing
Pricing can be customized by corridor as some corridors are more price sensitive than others. Western Union for example offers pay-out in Turkey via US$, Euro and Turkish Lira, all with different pricing strategies. Some companies run very aggressive pricing that might not be sustainable.
Retail vs Digital
Many traditional money transfer players such as Ria and Western Union possess retail locations (owned or agents). Are they worth the cost, are these networks shrinking or growing, and how do digital and retail co-exist. Should retail locations be used to upsell to digital and what is an appropriate omni-channel marketing approach across digital and brick & mortar?
Corridors
Ethnic marketing and the money transfer/remittance business are highly localized on a corridor level. It is essential to understand the various key corridor audiences and develop a attractive and scalable pricing and marketing strategy around those. For Germany, the traditional corridors such as Balkans and Turkey will still play a critical role for traditional players, while many online players primarily gain with immigrants from southeast Asia, Africa and Middle East/MENA. New immigration patterns are an important aspect to consider.
Organizational structure
What is the best organizational structure for money transfer companies that allows for local expertise yet economies of scale when it comes to marketing budget and efficiencies. How should the cross-functional collaboration look like
The blog
Western Union, Ria, Moneygram vs digital
Money Transfer Funds-Out
Money Transfer Competitors: Western Union
Marketing ROI: CAC vs LTV
Money Transfer: Omnichannel vs digital only
Money Transfer Competitors:
Ria
Remittance funds-in methods
Money Transfer Competitors:
Xoom/PayPal
How to find your future customers
Money Transfer Competitors: Remitly
Other Services
Insights on Consumer Money Transfer topics, including payments, international expansion and partnerships with focus on Europe
Temporary management or executive assignments for money transfer companies
Advisory for investors, analysts, PE firms, Interviews, articles, speaker at conferences and policy events