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Money transfer is a cashless mode of payment between a customer and a vendor, or between any two parties, generally using electronic means. Why do we think that you could be scammed here? It is simple. Cash transfers between people living in the same jurisdictional area are fairly easy and secure, with fewer chances of fraud. The problem arises with sending money overseas and across the border.
Electronic money transfer is probably the most efficient ways available to send money overseas. This is possible through a network of different banks communicating with each other and clearing the payment. While most cross-border payments are done by traders and businesses, we are only looking at personal money transfers, also called remittance payments.
While money transfer protocols are fairly safe, and there are know your customer (KYC) compulsions, people still fall prey to frauds. Generally, it is not the remittance service provider, but another bad actor using loopholes within the provider’s system to loot people of their money.
Domestic payments are fairly easy to set up. But with international remittances, service providers have to work only in specific regions as they first need to enter deals with local banks. Please note that each of these services may not be available for residents of all countries.
Here we list some of the popular money transfer services available across the globe and the number of internationally transferrable currencies they support.
| Money transfer provider | Number of currencies supported |
| Paypal | 26 |
| TransferWise | 24 |
| CurrencyFair | 17 |
| WorldRemit | 70 |
| OFX | 49 |
| TorFX | 44 |
| WorldFirst | 30 |
| XE | 60 |
| SendFX | 35 |
| Moneycorp | 120 |
| Western Union | 130 |
| MoneyGram | 50 |
PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as checks and money orders. The company operates as a payment processor for online vendors, auction sites and many other commercial users, for which it charges a fee. On October 21, 2020, PayPal announced a new service allowing customers to use cryptocurrencies to shop at 26 million merchants on the network starting in 2021.
Wise is a money transfer service allowing private individuals and businesses to send money abroad without hidden charges. Wise provides a core money transfer product, along with a borderless account for its audience of ex-pats, freelancers, and travelers, which holds over £2 billion in current deposits. The company was launched in 2011 with the vision of making international money transfers cheap, fair, and simple. Its multi-currency account helps over 10 millionpeople and businesses manage their money across the world.
CurrencyFair is an online peer-to-peer currency exchange marketplace. CurrencyFair is headquartered in Ireland also with employees in UK, Australia, Greece, Hong Kong, Poland and Singapore. The company has offices in Newcastle, NSW, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. CurrencyFair provides international transfers in 20 global currencies. CurrencyFair is a marketplace where money is never exchanged across borders; rather, it stays in the country of origin, thereby avoiding bank conversion fees.
WorldRemit is a cross-border digital payments service that provides international money transfer and remittance services in more than 130 countries and over 70 currencies. The firm has a network of more than 5,000 corridors. It is connected to mobile money services globally, including M-Pesa (Kenya), MTN (Africa and Asia), and bKash (Bangladesh). As of October 2019, it can send funds to 115 different countries; this includes all African countries except for Sudan, South Sudan, Eswatini, Eritrea, Libya, and Algeria.
OFX, previously known as OzForex is an Australian online foreign exchange and payments company with headquarters in Sydney. The company provides money transfer services to Travelex, MoneyGram, Xero, Capital One 360, and Macquarie International Money Transfers as well as individuals such as migrants and expatriates and small businesses. It operated a number of different territory specific brands that include UKForex, CanadianForex, NZForex, USForex as well as ClearFX and Tranzfers before a brand consolidation to OFX starting in 2015.
TorFX is international money transfer provider offering outstanding exchange rates, fee-free transfers and first-class personal service. TorFX is to save you money on your international currency transfers by offering highly competitive exchange rates and a fee-free, personal service. Their currency experts are always on hand to provide friendly, clear guidance and regular market updates.
WorldFirst facilitates businesses and individuals to conduct customer service and money transfer activities. Catering to clientele in the hedge fund and exporting sectors, the company helps businesses open up receiving accounts to get payments in their local currency and set up forward contracts to lock in a rate to make late transfers. The company also enables online sellers to manage their payments across multiple international marketplaces and make payments to overseas suppliers. WorldFirst charges a fee for same currency transactions while every other service offered is free.
Xe.com (Xe) is a Canada-based online foreign exchange tools and services company. The company provides a foreign exchange service (Xe Money Transfer). XE clients have booked billions of dollars in payments through the XE Trade online foreign exchangepayments service, and XE's commercial grade currency feed is used by thousands corporate clients from SMEs to Fortune 500 companies.
SendFX is a global payments company that seeks to facilitate cross-border transfers for a future-facing and socially-mobile customer base. SendFX provides cross-border payment and remittance services to individuals and SMEs.
Moneycorp (TTT moneycorp Limited) is an international company offering foreign exchange and global payment services to individual and corporate customers. It operates in a number of countries and also provides bulk foreign notes and travel money services (bureau de change) via a number of travel companies and airlines.
Western Union is the second largest money transfer provider in the world. Money can be sent online or in-person at Western Union agent locations. Cash can be collected in person at any other Western Union agent location worldwide by providing the 10-digit MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number) and identification. In some cases, a secret question and answer can be used instead of identification.
MoneyGram International, Inc. is a cross-border P2P payments and money transfer company. The company operates in more than 200 countries and territories with a global network of about 347,000 agent offices. The Company offers its money transfer services on the Internet via its MoneyGram Online service in the United States, United Kingdom and through agent Websites in Italy, Saudi Arabia and Japan. It also offers money transfer services via mobile phone, kiosks, ATM, receive cards and direct-to-bank account products in various markets worldwide.
Sources: Wikipedia, Crunchbase, CBInsights
Image source: Unsplash.com
