By joining RippleNet – the global payments network that leverages blockchain technology to quickly and inexpensively facilitate transactions – cross-border money transfer specialist Xendpay will bring its fee-agnostic remittance service to customers in countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
This includes access to its Pay What You Want feature that enables customers to pay no fees on transfers totaling $2,500 over the course of a calendar year. For businesses, the option is twice as valuable with a $5,000 fee-free limit.
“Most of our customers are migrants who are sending money back home,” Xendpay Head of Product Innovation Bhavin Vaghela said. “This money is vital to support their families: to pay rent or mortgage, electricity bills, medical fees, and education costs.” He added that, as an online service, Xendpay is able to save on overhead and pass that savings on to the customer.
“I think of our fees as similar to providing a tip,” Vaghela said. “If you feel like you’ve been treated well, received a good rate and enjoyed the experience, you might pay the recommended rate. We’ve even had clients pay us more.”
In joining RippleNet, Xendpay and its customers will benefit from a significant increase in processing speed for international money transfers, according to Vaghela. He noted that a transfer in a currency like the Thai Baht that might have taken up to four days to complete, now takes less than an hour courtesy of RippleNet’s technology and network of partners. Not only does the partnership with RippleNet accelerate the money transfers Xendpay has always offered, but also the collaboration enables Xendpay to provide money transfers it previously felt it could not.
“We were unable to offer currencies like Malaysian Ringgit or Bangladeshi Taka before,” Vaghela said. “Now that it’s easier to connect with local partners, we can provide our clients with more local currencies and, therefore, see new growth in those corridors.”
Xendpay demonstrated its cash-to-cash mobile international payment service at FinovateEurope 2013. Founded in 2012 by Paresh Davdra and Rajesh Agrawal, CEO, and headquartered in London, U.K., the company offers its services in 200+ countries, and transfers funds in more than 50 currencies and 2,900+ currency pairs. Xendpay is agent of foreign currency exchange payments firm RationalFX, founded in 2005 by Davdra and Agrawal.