The US-India Remittances Corridor is arguably the most important one in the world today. The US is the most important sender to India, the largest receiver of remittances. A disruptive service such as the one just launched by Remitly is therefore highly significant. I caught up with Matt Oppenheimer, one of the innovators of our time, to understand what motivated him to launch the first mobile only remittances firm, congratulate him on his entry into the US-India corridor and find out a bit about how it all works. I hope you find this of interest, whether or not you are a specialist remittances firm, as money transfer is now an important component for any digital wallet service.
Matt, could you please tell us a bit about yourself and your mission at Remitly?
Sure. I started Remitly after graduating from Harvard Business School and running mobile and Internet banking initiatives for Barclay’s Bank in Kenya.
Living abroad I experienced first hand how difficult and expensive it can be to send money across borders. That’s why I started Remitly as a secure and convenient way to send money abroad.
Our mission is simple: to build the easiest, most affordable and secure, mobile device oriented international money transfer service.
Could you share a bit more about Remitly?
Remitly is a mobile payments service we launched in 2012, for consumers to make person-to-person international money transfers from the United States. Our digital service leverages the latest technology to eliminate the forms, codes, agents, extra time and fees typical of the traditional money transfer process.
We are authorized to operate in 41 states and we currently send over $100 million dollars annually.
We are proud to be backed by industry-leading investors, including Trilogy Partnership, QED Investors, Founders’ Co-Op, Bezos Expeditions, and TomorrowVentures.
We are headquartered in Seattle, WA with additional offices in the Philippines.
What has been your experience so far, in bringing out a mobile-only remittance service in the US?
As a banker I was aware of the regulatory hurdles and importance of security inherent to building a robust money transfer service. Accordingly, we took a measured and systematic approach from day one, while at the same time always maintaining a customer centric view.
The response from our customers has been fantastic. Since 2012, our convenient and reliable Apps have enabled thousands of customers to send millions of dollars to the Philippines.
What are the advantages of offering a service that leverages the mobile channel in USA?
Well, I believe the time was perfect for us to build a mobile remittance company in the USA. Here’s why:
There are now over 188 million smartphone users in the USA. This is up by 21% versus the prior year. It is part of a worldwide trend, with 1.7 Billion smartphones globally, up 28% from the prior year.
And consumers are increasingly demonstrating their keen interest in using their mobile phones for remittances. Over 48% of smartphone users have used mobile financial services in the last year.
I understand you have just expanded into India. I am curious to understand a bit about how this works
We are excited to now offer our services to the those in the U.S. wishing to send money to India.
Customers can use our iOS and Android Apps, or our website, to send money to any major bank in India. As always, they can pay using their bank accounts or debit cards.
We believe these new customers will enjoy the ease of our digital experience, along with 24/7 customer service.
With Remitly, every money transfer carries a unique delivery guarantee: We deliver on time, or your money back!
Our service is also great value for customers. Transactions under a $1,000 are free and transactions above that amount are only $1.99. We also offer some of the best foreign exchange rates in the industry.
Matt, I think those are great consumer advantages, congratulations on implementing them! I am curious to know more about your service to India, announced last week
We are proud to welcome India as its newest destination country. Our coverage in India spans a network of over 120 banks and their branches.
- Instant direct deposit is available for many banks year-round, 24/7, including ICICI, Yes Bank, and PNB.
- Four hour deposit is available during regular Indian banking hours for all other banks.
Our customers in the US can use our popular IOS and Android apps for sending money to India. We’ve had great feedback from customers who have told us they love the user experience. We continue to add innovative features to enhance speed, reliability, and usability.
For instance, iOS users can now sign in using Apple’s Touch ID, while Android users can review foreign exchange rates in real time by simply adding a widget to their Android home screens.
Senders can also visit www.Remitly.com/india to send money online via desktop computers and other devices.
The Remitly app is available to download from the Apple Store and Google Play.
What are the unique opportunities you see for Remitly over the next few years?
Remitly is already sending over $100 Million annually. We are growing over 400% year over year. With the launch of our service to India we are now in two of the largest U.S. remittance markets. We strongly believe that Remitly is uniquely positioned to exceed customer expectations in these markets and others.
Although we’re confident we already have an industry leading mobile based product, and offer the best deal for sending money to India and the Philippines, we really are just getting started.
Matt, I take this opportunity to say how much I appreciate the work you are doing in changing the way migrants can send money home. I wish you, and Remitly every success for the future and will be on the lookout for more announcements!
Matt worked for Barclays Bank first in London and then Nairobi, Kenya where he oversaw mobile and internet banking initiatives. It was there that he became passionate about solving the difficulty in sending and receiving money from overseas.
Matt launched Remitly in 2011, with the mission of leveraging mobile phones to build the best and most affordable way to send money across borders. Matt has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Dartmouth College. He's a 5th generation Idahoan and avid traveller. Follow him on Twitter at @matt_oppy.
Charmaine is author of “The Digital Money Game: Competing in the multi-trillion dollar payments Industry”
Shift Thought is a UK-based consultancy specialised in payments and remittances. We have built a unique 360 degree view across 32 key services we term as Digital Money for which we maintain a continually updated knowledge base that we share through our portals and Viewports (Portal in a Report). Our latest Viewport “Digital Money in China 2015” is just out and offers highly important insights into the trends, opportunities and risks, ecosystem and digital money initiatives in China.
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