Payments services company Paysafe Group Plc (LON:PAYS) has just announced that it has extended the reach of its money transfer service, Skrill Send Direct, to a further nine countries. This means that Skrill customers can now transfer money from anywhere in the world to bank accounts and mobile wallets in a total of 45 countries. The nine new countries added to the Skrill Send Direct network are: India, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Morocco, Venezuela and Vietnam.
The total value of money transferred using remittances worldwide reached US$582.4 billion in 2016, and the World Bank estimates 3% to 4% per year growth in 2017 and 2018. Skrill Send Direct is designed to help expats and people living overseas to send money home to their families more securely, more efficiently, and at a lower cost than traditional bank transfer services which require the sender to have a bank account.
According to the World Bank, over 250 million people – or 3.4% of the world’s population – currently live and work abroad. Highlighting the significance of Skrill Send Direct being available in these new countries, World Bank figures also show that India is the biggest remittance market: Indians abroad sent US$69 billion in remittances back home in 2017.
The money transfer service is offered by Skrill – a Paysafe digital wallet that provides consumers with online stored value accounts. Launched in February 2018, the Send Direct service extends the money transfer options for Skrill customers enabling them to send funds, in any one of 40 different currencies on offer, direct to someone’s bank account or multiple other local payment options.
Lorenzo Pellegrino
CEO of Skrill, NETELLER and Income Access at Paysafe, Lorenzo Pellegrino, said:
Skrill Send Direct is fast, low cost and convenient and meets a growing consumer need as more and more people around the world work abroad and send money home to families. This includes the millions of existing Skrill users who not only use their digital wallets to spend money online, but also to send money to family and friends.
We are continually strengthening our money transfer capability and extending its reach means we can serve the underserved in economies which are predominantly cash based and where people may not have a bank account. Ultimately, money remittance is about people looking after their families. The less it costs and the sooner it arrives the faster the family – and the local economy – can benefit.”