JOHANNESBURG - Global digital digital money transfer service WorldRemit on Wednesday launched its low-cost digital money transfer service in South Africa, allowing residents who had previously only been able to receive funds via the platform to now send to over 145 destinations worldwide.
"South Africa is one of WorldRemit’s top ten remittance receiving countries, with transactions to the country growing by over 50 percent year-on-year," managing director for Middle East and Africa Andrew Stewart said.
"We are delighted to start this next phase of our growth, enabling customers in South Africa to send digital money transfers to 145 countries worldwide including Zimbabwe and Mozambique."
He said the company aimed to corner 30 percent of the South African market over the next three years, helped partly by lower transaction costs of five percent against the market average of 15 percent.
"We know there's about 3.2 million diaspora living in South Africa. We believe 30 percent of those are banked formally, so we're going to go after that segment immediately," Stewart told journalists at the launch in Johannesburg.
World Bank data shows that South Africa is the most expensive G20 country to send money from, with an average cost of over 15 percent for sending $200 - more than double the global average.
Currently, 68 percent of remittances from Africa's most developed economy are sent through informal channels such as unregistered courier services and buses crossing the border.
The WorldRemit platform will allow customers to make make quick, secure and low-cost digital money transfers directly from their phones.