(Newswire.net — April 29, 2018) — If there’s one thing to know about the remittance industry, it’s that it’s the direct opposite of a static industry.
The remittance industry is always changing and due to new technologies and developments, and thus far 2018 has been no exception
Here are the top three trends affecting the remittance industry for 2018:
Trend #1 – Mobile Remittances Have Completely Changed The Game
The use of mobile money has been a developing trend for years. Previously, senders would need to travel to the physical location of a money remittance service in order to transfer the funds. All the same, the receiver would also have to travel to a remittance service in their country in order to receive the funds.
That process worked, but it was also long and not always convenient. Mobile remittances have changed that, as they allow one to send or receive money anywhere and at anytime.
Considering the widespread use of mobile phones, it’s easy to see how it has been picking picking up stream in the remittance sector and will remain a trend that continues to develop over the coming years.
Trend #2 – Banks and Money Service Providers Will Continue To Partner Up
Despite the fact that mobile/online remittances have largely made the remittance industry more convenient for sectors, banks and other large financial institutions still have a big role to play.
Specifically, banks form partnerships with online/mobile remittance providers to allow their customers to deposit or withdraw money from their bank accounts. A sender could send money online from their bank account and the receiver can receive it on their phone while they are on the go.
Trend #3 – Keep A Close Eye On Blockchain Technology
Cryptocurrencies are in the news seemingly everyday due to their volatile nature, but the technology behind cryptocurrencies is blockchain, which in basic terms, is a decentralized digital ledger of financial transactions. Those transactions are stored on what is called a blockchain database.
In other words, blockchain technologies such as bitcoin is essentially a digital ledger that can keep a continuously updated record of transactions in a very secure, decentralized, and transparent manner. There is no centralized version of the transactions that can be hacked.
That’s also why blockchain is so important when it comes to the remittance industry: people can send and receive remittances without risk of it being hacked. In fact, many remittance companies are already using blockchain technology to create a network of people who can transparently and securely conduct transactions with one another on the database.
In the coming years, we can expect to hear a lot more about blockchain as it continues to develop and be adopted, and not only for remittances but for other industries as well.
Trends Affecting The Remittance Industry
Overall, these are the top three trends that are currently affecting the remittance industry today. Keep an eye on these trends for the rest of 2018 and into 2019.