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Ant Financial taps blockchain technology to offer cheaper international money transfers
Ant Financial Services has taken a step towards dramatically lowering the cost of sending money overseas, in a move that will help the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos working in Hong Kong.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Report: Postal Services Vital For Remittance Delivery In Africa
Postal services can play a pivotal role in delivering remittances, lowering the transfer costs and providing access to basic financial services in Africa, says a new report.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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India largest remittance-receiving country in the world: Report
India was the largest remittance-receiving country in the world, with migrant workers from the country sending home USD 69 billion in 2017, according to a report which said remittances to the Asia-Pacific region amounted to US 256 billion last year.
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- remittances
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Digital Remittances: Now that they’re here, where are they headed?
Economic migrants send US $600 billion back to their home countries each year, most using expensive "traditional" agent networks, despite the availability of cheaper digital channels. But Xavier Martin Palomas with the Digital Frontiers Institute notes that in the past five years, we've seen a new wave of players and a renewed push toward digitizing remittances. Next month the Digital Frontiers Institute will launch its first course, Remittances in the Digital Age, to study the rapidly changing industry.
- Categories
- Finance
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Viewpoint: Kenya should complete transition to seamless mobile money platform
An estimated 66 per cent of the combined population of adults in Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya are active mobile money users.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Supporting the ‘Safe Journey’: How Mobile Tech is Making Migration More Secure and Less Costly
In Nepal’s rural areas, foreign employment in wealthy economies like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Korea can be a huge economic opportunity. But migrants to these countries are often exploited by employment brokers and others, who take advantage of the complexity of the migration process to charge high fees for job placements or loans. Benjamin Lokshin at the Asia Foundation discusses the foundation's innovative 'Shuvayatra' platform, which leverages mobile tools to help bridge the gaps between migrants and providers of important services.
- Categories
- Finance
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Migrants Sent Record $466 Billion Home in 2017: World Bank
“The overall recovery in remittances is better than we expected. It is driven by stronger growth in the European Union, the Russian Federation, and the United States,” the bank said in a statement.
- Tags
- migrants, remittances
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Is Universal Financial Access Still Possible?
The most recent Global Findex survey shows 515 million adults have opened bank accounts since 2014. While that's good progress, Daniel Monehin, who heads Financial Inclusion for Mastercard, points out that owning an account is just the first step towards financial inclusion - the real value comes with being able to use it in a safe and convenient way. That's why universal financial access must go hand-in-hand with efforts to drive usage, writes Monehin, who urges the sector to focus on people, products and partnerships.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology