Transferwise could become the cross-border engine behind region’s e-wallets

International cross-border money payments firm TransferWise will be “very open” to partnering with more digital wallet players – including those in Singapore – as it extends its geographical reach in Southeast Asia, its chairman Taavet Hinrikus says.

The company has already announced tie-ups with six digital wallets in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Bangladesh earlier this year, including Gojek’s Go-Pay, Grab partner Ovo, and Ant Financial-backed GCash and Dana.

TransferWise CEO Taavet Hinrikus during a World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China, in 2016. Photo credit: World Economic Forum / Sikarin Thanachaiary.

These partnerships will allow TransferWise users to transfer money to e-wallets in addition to their bank accounts. With the increasing pervasiveness of digital wallets, these and bank accounts are “pretty much the same things,” Hinrikus notes.

“We don’t really see much difference in if you’re sending money to a bank account in Australia or an e-wallet in Singapore,” he adds.

At present, the company works with eight financial institutions including France’s second-largest bank, BPCE, as well as challenger banks like Monzo and N26.

But while the firm’s rivals have expanded their products – fintech startup Revolut has a range of financial services including budgeting and savings tools, and YouTrip plans to offer travel insurance – Transferwise will remain focused on its core money transfer platform.

Last week, the company launched its money transfer service in Malaysia – its fourth Asian market to offer the two-way service, after Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. Prior to this, users were allowed to remit money into Malaysia, but not the other way around. While the product is being rolled out to consumers first, Hinrikus says businesses in the country will soon be able to conduct cross-border money transfers as well.

Taavet Hinrikus at TransferWise Launch / Photo credit: TransferWise

In the near future, the firm is also looking to extend the service in a few more markets in the region, but the chairman clarified that these markets “won’t be India or China.”

TransferWise, which is valued at US$3.5 billion, has been profitable for three consecutive years. It handles £4 billion (US$5.2 billion) in transfers and payments every month for 6 million customers worldwide, and its real exchange rate offering (the mid-point between the buy and sell rates in global currency markets) saves users £1 billion (US$1.3 billion) a year, the company claims.

Going forward, TransferWise will also be looking at making more of its services available through an API integration, which will allow businesses to leverage the company’s transfer product to make money transfers – at TransferWise’s rates – directly through their own apps. The firm has already inked partnerships with UK-based recurring payments platform GoCardless and accounting software firm Xero to apply the solution.

“There’s going to be a lot more things happening on our API platform in the future,” Hinrikus adds.

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