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Sending money home
2016年03月24日
Sending money home if you don't trust your Dad
By Simon Read
Technology of Business reporter
18 May 2018
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Migrants send more than $600bn to their families back home each year
Technology has made it easier and cheaper to send money home to relatives round the world. But what if you don't trust your Dad not to squander it? No problem - now you can pay his electricity bills directly.
The range of services, countries and choices offered by money transfer apps has been increasing rapidly in recent years, bringing a lifeline to families who depend on cash from abroad.
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The advantages of sending their daughter to school in Zimbabwe were obvious to Steven and Jennifer Barker.
"It's a beautiful country and gives her many different opportunities that she wouldn't get where we live in the UK," says Steven.
The couple who both work in IT live near Watford just north of London. Jennifer is from Zimbabwe and was keen for their daughter Isabella, 14, to benefit from an education similar to the one that she had.
Image copyrightSTEVEN BARKER
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Steven Barker struggled to find ways to pay for daughter Isabella's (centre) Zimbabwe school fees
But as schools in Zimbabwe tend to charge fees, they had to find a way to get $3,000 (￡2,200) cash per term to the country. And new tech allows them to pay the school fees directly.
One online service in particular has helped Steven and Jennifer Barker. They use Zympay, which since 2016 has been helping people pay bills across borders.
"It used to take two to three days to send payment but now we can pay fees direct to Isabella's school and get an almost immediate acknowledgment," says Steven.
"It's much faster, more convenient, and attracts none of the extra fees that traditional methods charge, with all the companies involved taking a cut."
Remittance problems
The problem of sending money across borders - remittances - is shared by many migrants across the globe who are sending cash back home.
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The Barkers had to find a way to get $3,000 (￡2,200) cash per term to Zimbabwe
There are several difficulties, not least the high costs.
This is exacerbated by the fact that in many countries there is limited access to basic financial services.
The World Bank says that international migration is at an all-time high with more than 250 million migrant workers across the globe.
Its latest factbook says migrants collectively send more than $600bn to their families back home each year, which means remittances are big business.
Until recently, the market has been dominated by giant money transmission firms such as Western Union and MoneyGram.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
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Traditional money transmission firms like Western Union are now facing challengers
But technology is helping to change this, and new firms are marketing themselves as offering cheaper, faster and more convenient services. Many are helping to battle financial exclusion across the world.
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Obstacles
Migrants hoping to send money home often face several obstacles. Often they are unable to open a bank account in their new country and, by the same token, their family back home are often without a bank.
Traditionally the way round that is to take cash to a money transmission agent and wire it to a local office in their home country.
But there's the inconvenience of both parties having to travel to an office plus the cost, which can eat away a fair chunk of the money, often up to 10%.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
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Smartphones are changing the way people are sending money across borders
Now migrants can use mobile phones to make payments or to send cash directly to chosen recipients, like utility firms or grocery stores.
This solves another problem - that the cash can get into the hands of a family member who spends it on something else, rather than in paying off bills.
Direct payments
Dakshesh patel is the former NatWest banker behind the Zympay service used by the Barkers in Zimbabwe: it operates in South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria and India too.
"We simplify the process and minimise the costs for people sending money to relatives," he says.
The business has just linked with new start-up pip iT to help migrant workers who have no bank account. They can take cash to a post office in Britain, Canada or 10 African countries to get a voucher that can be read by their phone to add money to their pip iT wallet.
It can then be used - via payment services such as Ghana's Zeepay, Uganda's Swifin and Kenya's Impalapay - to settle bills back home.
Image copyrightOLLIE WALSH
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pip iT's Ollie Walsh says it took seven months to open a bank account when he came to the UK
Co-founder of the social enterprise Ollie Walsh based the idea on his own experience.
"It is very difficult for migrants to open a bank account in their new country, as I discovered when I moved to England from Ireland.
"It took me seven months to open an account so imagine how much longer it takes for someone from Ghana, for instance."
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