Mobetize

What does smartRemit mean for consumers?

What is SmartRemit? Part 3 of 4
Hello from the Mobetize team! Thanks for checking out our blog today all about our smartRemit product. This is part 3 of 4 in this series.
Part 1: This blog – ‘What is smartRemit?’
Part 2: How is SmartRemit different from other cross-border payment solutions?
Part 3: What does smart remit mean for consumers?
Part 4: What does smart remit mean for Financial Institutions?
Without further ado…

What does smartRemit mean for consumers?
smartRemit is an international money transfer application developed for banks and FIs by Mobetize Corp, a B2B Fintech technology services company whose vision is to provide Fintech solutions that improve the financial well-being of consumers by partnering with banks and credit unions.

For years, traditional bank wire transfers have had their place in the international remittance space. Traditionally, bank wire transfers offered their customers security and peace of mind when sending their money overseas. But the financial services landscape has changed over the years; globalization, advancements in telecommunications and other technologies, and consumer demand and expectations have given rise to faster, cheaper and more convenient alternatives to the traditional wire transfer.  
The consumer initiated cross-border payments industry is a $650B market and growing.

Mobetize wants to help banks, credit unions and other financial institutions capture a piece of this market, while at the same time enabling them to offer their customers a secure, quick, convenient and competitive financial service that their customers would otherwise go elsewhere for. 

smartRemit directly and easily integrates with the partner FI’s system. This direct integration means that FIs can offer the service bundled directly within their existing online or mobile banking applications or offer the service as a white-labelled, FI branded independent app downloadable by their consumers from the Apple and Android app stores. To the consumer, this means convenient, autonomous, 24/7 access that traditional bank wire transfers cannot offer.
Since the service communicates directly with the FI’s system, customers of financial institutions that offer smartRemit as part of their financial services can feel assured their personal and financial data is not shared, stored or used by any third parties. Consumers using smartRemit are directly initiating transactions through their bank — debiting the transfers directly from their accounts rather than having a third party service initiate these debit requests on their behalf. To the consumer, this means faster and cheaper transfers with more security .

This interaction between smartRemit and the FI’s system means that customer registration is simple and quick by comparison to other money transfer solutions. Since all of the application’s consumers are already existing members of the FI, the timely and inconvenient KYC process typical of other money transfer providers is simply not applicable. Because KYC is done differently, this consumer barrier to entry is removed and the whole process from app download, registration to their first successful transfer can be accomplished in mere minutes — a huge advantage for both the FI offering the service and the consumer using it compared to the other service providers.

Unlike traditional wire transfers, (which are limited in how the recipient can receive their money, are timely and in Canada can cost from $20 to as much as $125,) consumers can send payments to almost anyone globally with multiple payout methods such as cash pick up, direct bank deposit or, in some cases, home delivery and mobile wallet at a fraction of the time and cost. And since the FI sets their own fees and FOREX spreads, they can offer their own customers flexible and competitive rates that otherwise would not be possible.  

smartRemit also informs consumers’ recipients that money has been sent to them in an email or text message notification. Depending on country and payout method, transactions can be as quick as minutes, but are typically received by the recipient within 2 – 24 hours, making smartRemit one of the fastest ways to forward funds! 

Since all the transactions are initiated by the consumer, they have the ability to track the status of their transfers in real-time, anytime, and can choose to cancel transactions after initially sending them. The smartRemit app also automatically saves the recipient’s information and preferred payout methods for the sender, making future transactions a simple button-touch process. In addition, both senders and receivers have access to smartRemit’s cash pick-up location finder so that receiving cash payouts is a quick, close and convenient task for the recipient and not a chore.

smartRemit is backed by the Canadian Financial Institution industry, which means that it can provide consumers with digital security and faster transfer speeds making it more efficient and convenient than many other fund transfer options. smartRemit was designed and developed for the banking and financial industry with their consumers in mind. By partnering with Mobetize and offering their customers the smartRemit money transfer service, FIs have an instant, out-of-the-box, revenue-generating financial service that reinforces their customer relations and consumer engagement. For the FI’s customers, smartRemit fulfills a demand for a secure, quick, convenient, cost-effective and user-friendly international money transfer solution.

To speak to someone directly, please visit our Contact Us page.

We hope you will join us next week for the last instalment (#4 of 4) in our smartRemit feature article series.

-The Mobetize Team