LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Millions of hard-working South Asian migrants have been handed a financial lifeline by London based Fintech start-up Azimo, which has just launched a new £1 money transfer service for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The news comes after calls by the G20 to lower the excessive fees and poor exchange rates involved in transferring money abroad, backed up by the Indian Prime Minister to make this a reality within two years.
An estimated 28 million South Asians live abroad, making it the largest global migrant population - many of whom regularly send money to and from home. The World Bank estimates these money transfers will total nearly $150bn in 2014, incurring significant costs for those involved, leading to the G20’s call to put more money back where it belongs, in migrants’ pockets.
Using its unique digital remittance platform, Azimo makes money transfer easier, faster and cheaper - compared to average fees of over 9%, Azimo’s online service charges customers just £1 or less than 1% to send any amount, along with the best exchange rates on the market. The service is available for both instant cash pick-up at over 30,000 locations and direct payment to any bank account.
Michael Kent, founder of Azimo, said: “The big banks and legacy players like Western Union still offer the costly high street based model and make billions of dollars of profits from hard-working migrants sending money home to support their families.
We agree with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – voted Person of the Year by TIME Magazine’s readers - that those high prices and excess profits don’t have any place in today’s world.
While the digital and mobile mega trends have reshaped retail, travel and communications, these forces have so far skipped money transfer. Azimo is changing that.”
In addition to Azimo’s on-going low £1 cost, until 31st December 2014 customers who send money using the new Azimo service will pay ZERO fees if they use code AZIMOASIA.
