Announcing the launch, WorldRemit senior mobile analyst Alix Murphy said now the significant Fijian, Tongan and Samoan diasporas can make instant, low-cost money transfers direct to the mobiles of their friends and family back home.



“We’re pioneering mobile-to-mobile remittances for Pacific Islanders. Fijian, Tongan and Samoan expats can now send money direct from the WorldRemit app straight to the phones of their family or friends back home. We make sending money overseas as easy as an instant message.”



Murphy said Fiji, Tonga and Samoa are amongst the countries most dependent on remittances in the world, where they form a significant share of GDP, and in 2014 remittances contributed an estimated $463 million to their economies.





WorldRemit says mobile money plays an important role in bringing the unbanked into the formal economy in many Pacific islands, with the Digicel Mobile Money wallet supported by the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme which aims in particular to support hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged women and people living in rural areas.Funds sent to Digicel Mobile Money wallets can be immediately used to pay bills such as electricity or insurance, top-up airtime, make purchases in stores or online, or simply to store for future use.Murphy said Digicel Tonga was also one of the first mobile operators globally to launch NFC contactless payments via Mobile Money in 2011.