...A large multinational may be able to squeeze a saving from its corporate bank, but SMEs and individuals get routinely shortchanged. The challenge is acute in Asia, where money transfer costs are three-fifths higher than in Europe or the U.S. Capital controls and fragmented domestic banking industries breed inefficiency, which helps banks garner $85 billion in annual revenue – $38 billion more than what they make from cross-border transfers in North America. That hurts the competitiveness of smaller Asian firms.
On their own, banks would have done nothing to alter the status quo. But a rising challenge from fintech means better rates are coming to Asia, and not a day too soon. T
...But what’s fair? Zero, or a number very close to it, Harsh Sinha, the London-based chief technology officer at TransferWise Ltd., tells me. Currently, the global average for the payment industry ranges between $25 and $35.
...TransferWise uses algorithms to predict which country will need liquidity, when, and top up the bucket accordingly with its own funds. Customers get mid-market exchange rates – and not the vastly different “we buy at/we sell at” prices displayed by money-changers. TransferWise says it’s up to eight times cheaper than banks.
...HSBC Holdings Plc, which together with a subsidiary has a lock on 30% of Hong Kong’s deposits, started offering a “first ever” 12-currency debit card to its top-end customers last month. That still doesn’t match the 40-currency card that TransferWise is bringing to Singapore, its Asia-Pacific headquarters, later this year, though it does take care of the paying-for-coffee problem in Bangko
No comments:
Post a Comment