The remittance industry contributes to the economic growth of some countries receiving financial inflows from abroad, as well as the livelihood of individuals involved. Our primary objective is to empower digital currency holder and around 2.5 billion people globally, that are currently underbanked or neither have access to financial services.

Our interoperable platform will allow the user the flexibility to deploy digital currencies and select between various payout methods for the recipient to receive the funds.

Market size of the remittances Industry

In 2017, the annual remittance volume exceeded half a trillion U.S. dollar. According to the World Bank, global remittance grew by 7 % to $613 billion, compared to its previous year from $573 billion in 2016.

More than 250 million people use remittance services annually to transfers funds to family and friends abroad. The largest destinations with remittance inflows were India with $69 billion, followed by China $64 billion, the Philippines $33 billion, Mexico $31 billion, Nigeria $22 billion and Egypt with $20 billion.

Global remittance is expected to grow nearly by 5 % to $642 billion in 2018. More than 700+ million people depended on remittance flows in 2017. Traditional Remittance Service Providers (RSP) and financial institutions earn $42 billion in annual global remittance fees to facilitate cross-border transactions.

- 250 million people deploy remittance service annually.

- $613 billion in annual remittance transferred globally.

The most significant remittance destinations by volume are:

India $69 billion China $64 billion The Philippines $33 billion Mexico $31 billion Nigeria $22 billion

Traditional remittances service provider and average pricing

The global average cost of sending $200 was 7.45% in the first quarter of 2017, some remittance corridors charge up to 15%. Sub-Saharan Africa region remains the most expensive remittance corridor to transfer money to, where the average cost is 9.4 %.

Source: The World Bank (https://remittanceprices.worldbank.org)

Traditional remittance service provider such as Western Union, RIA and MoneyGram alone process more than 25% of the global money transfer. Innovative firms are competing with traditional remittance service providers such as banks, post offices and money transfer operators. Introduction of new services enabled by new technologies and new applications of existing technologies are boosting up international remittances at a fraction of the cost.

The type of remittance service used to send money determines the fee charged by the provider. The average cost to transfer funds abroad through a bank will cost you 11.8 %, followed by Post offices with 6.57%. Money Transfer Operators charges 6.32 %, while Mobile Operators charge the least with 2.87%.

Source: The World Bank (https://remittanceprices.worldbank.org)

The remittance market is facing a dynamic change as ambitious startups and technology such as blockchain lower the barriers of entry, by providing more efficient ways to build a more efficient infrastructure compared to traditional remittance service provider.

A focus on our platform

We are building a blockchain-based remittance platform that works with on- and off chain solutions. We aim to connect people and business to an innovative platform which will disrupt the current remittance industry, through forward-thinking technologies with financial inclusivity in mind.

While the remittances industry is growing, consumers haven’t noticed any decline in the fee structures by traditional operators. Blockchain remittance has the potential to be more efficient and affordable, saving users billions of dollars in transaction fees yearly.

Blockchain remittances have the potential to be more efficient and save users billions of dollars in fees.

Consumer Behaviour

For many years consumers went to traditional money transfer operators to send their funds abroad, which gave them the power to monopolize their financial services provided to the users. With little to no competition in the market, the money transfer operators were able to charge abnormally high commissions and markup fees on the FX.

Consumers had little to no alternative when it came to cross-border money transfer to pay for hidden fees and high rates a decades ago if they wanted to send money across the globe. Since the last financial crisis, the shift in consumer behavior and the evolution of the technologies has created an opportunity for emerging companies to offer better and more competitive service for consumers.

Stay tuned

We want ETHA to be useful in users live by leveraging the blockchain technology with our emerging platform to make remittance services accessible and add value to the user experience by utilising their digital assets.

See you with the next articles and updates.

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