Remittances are a key source of income for many emerging consumers, and often make up a significant component of GDP for developing countries. UN Secretary-General António Guterres described them as a “lifeline of the developing world”¹.

In 2022, global remittances in the formal market totalled $626B, representing 5% year-on-year growth². The informal market may be similarly large. Despite the size of the market, the P2P cross-border payments market remains predominantly offline and is characterised by high transaction costs and poor customer experience.

The global average cost for sending remittances is 6.3%, more than double the target of 3% set by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 10³. In Sub-Saharan Africa that cost is substantially higher at above 8%, due in part to low penetration of formal digital remittance providers and use of black-market money exchangers⁴.

These high transaction costs have significant impacts on low-income households. Around 75% of remittance flows are used to meet the immediate needs of emerging consumers, such as food, healthcare and education⁵.

Remittance flows to low and middle income countries are a key contributor to economic growth, surpassing the sum of foreign direct investment and overseas development assistance in 2022⁶. In Somalia, the home country of Zepz founder and chairman Ismail Ahmed, remittances account for 35% of the economy7, and help finance the country’s substantial trade deficit as well as stabilise the local currency⁸.

As the first financial product used by many lower income people, remittances often act as a stepping stone to further financial inclusion, from bank accounts to savings and loan products.

Zepz increases access to affordable, efficient and secure digital remittances for emerging consumers, sending over $1.3B per month from 50 countries to recipients in 130 countries in 2022.

Somaliland migrant Ismail Ahmed founded WorldRemit, now known as Zepz, in 2010 after recognising the need for affordable money transfers between countries. The company has revolutionised P2P cross-border payments, an estimated $1 trillion market opportunity, by leveraging the increasing uptake of mobile phones.

Zepz services over 5,000 transfer routes with its digital remittances, including in many previously underserved markets  which relied on high-cost providers. Customers using the company’s WorldRemit and Sendwave brands enjoy a fast, flexible user experience, with 85% of transactions are settled in minutes. Senders have the option to remit money into bank accounts, cash pick-up points, or into mobile wallets for cash-out and airtime top-ups. Compared to cash remittance services, the cost of digital remittance is significantly lower in both fees and FX margins⁹.

Zepz has built an expansive agent network to connect with recipients of funds no matter where they are located, reducing distance to access points and so lowering travel costs for receivers of money transfers. Identification and registration of customers is simplified through an online verification process backed by card payment infrastructure, removing a key pain point for the receiving low-income consumers who often have little documentation.

Zepz’s remittance network also supports financial inclusion, with transaction records from transfers creating documentation that can be leveraged to assess creditworthiness for credit products¹⁰.