Remittance flows attract interest
Xpress Money, a South Asian money transfer company, hopes to snare more market share in Australia, taking aim at a sector that the World Bank estimates is worth A$18 billion a year.For now, the market share for Xpress is small, with the firm handling only $250 million in remittance flows each year.Most of these flows are to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia, Sudhesh Giriyan, vice president of Xpress Money said yesterday.Western Union and Moneygram dominate this market.To drive volumes, Xpress aims to triple the number of agents it has in Australia over the next two years from the present 200.One selling point in Xpress' favour is its lower fees. Giriyan said these ranged from 2.5 per cent to three per cent.A recent World Bank study estimated remittance fees in Asia and the South Pacific to be as high as 10 per cent.Digital payments company Skrill recently launched an online remittance service and says its fees are about half the industry average.