The number of prepaid mobile phones is growing throughout the world. This now accounts for 76% of the world’s five billion mobile phones. The mobile top up companies are helping the diaspora transfer money to their near and dear ones across the globe and helping them to top up the mobile phone as well.
They help to route most payments not by transferring the sender’s money directly to the recipient as it is in the case of SWIFT, but they do so by matching the amounts with other users sending the other way around. They help use these pools of funds to pay out transfers via local bank transfer. By following this new approach, they can transfer money at much lower rate compared to traditional banks.
Below are few of the top mobile top up and money transfer companies throughout the world. They are expanding their user base and helping many people across the world to transfer to their home country with much lower transfer fee.
Here are some of the top Mobile top up Companies operating in the Asia Pacific region:
TransferWise:
TransferWise is a London based online money transfer service founded in 2010. The company supports more than 750 currency across the world including GBP, USD, EUR, AUD and CAD. It also provides multi-currency accounts. In 2019, its revenue reached 179 million pounds.
The concept of TransferWise is to match transfers with other people and then have a small commission for each transaction. It serves many markets e.g. Europe, US, Canada, Asia Pacific and Latin America. With more than 2000 employees it is emerging as one of the top mobile top up operators in the world.
XE:
Xenon Laboratories was incorporated in the year 1993 (later became XE) was founded by two high school friends, Steven Dengler and Beric Farmer. In 2001, the company officially changed its name to XE.com Inc. Headquartered in Ontario, Canada it serves customers across the globe. It serves more than 300 million customers and are pioneers when it comes to adopting new age technology in money transfer.
Xe.com is one of the top 500 websites across the globe as ranked by Alexa and offers various free online currency tools, including the Xe Currency Converter which allows visitors to check live exchange rates. In 2009, the company introduced a free mobile app (Xe Currency) on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Windows 8.
WorldRemit:
WorldRemit was founded in 2010 by Dr. Ismail Ahmed, a former compliance advisor to the United Nations Development Programme. WorldRemit was one of the first online money transfer companies to focus on mobile-to-mobile money transfer. WorldRemit supports more than 90 currencies across the globe. With more than 4 million customers globally it is one of the largest mobile top up companies in the world. It covers more than 150 countries and has more than 1000 employees.
For those receiving money, WorldRemit offers a wide range of options including bank deposit, mobile money, mobile airtime top-up and cash collection. Over 90% of its transfers are authorised within minutes.
Ding:
Dublin-based company Ding, which was founded in 2006, enables expats to support family back home by facilitating the instant transfer of credit top-up to any mobile phone. The company connects users through more than 400 operators in over 140 countries. It has a revenue of more than $500 Million and it offers services worldwide. Ding’s users have sent over 400 million mobile top-ups. In 2018, Financial Times listed Ding as one of the fastest growing companies in Europe.
In 2018, Ding also opened its new office in New Jersey, USA. The company connects users through more than 400 operators in over 140 countries including all major Asian markets. It has regional offices in Miami, Barcelona, Bucharest, Dhaka, Dubai, Paris and San Salvador. It is one of the leading mobile top up payment provides in the world and is expanding to many new territories.
Xoom:
Xoom offers money-transfer services in many countries worldwide. Money sent by Xoom may be received in cash at banks and various other businesses depending on the recipient’s location. Xoom became a part of Pay Pal in 2015 as Pay Pal acquired Xoom for $25 as share i.e. at a valuation of $1.09 billion.
Headquartered in San Francisco in California, Xoom primarily serves many countries in Asia. It is one of the leading players in mobile top up as well in addition to being a leading remittance service provider.
What’s next for the future of online payment operators and mobile remittance providers in Asia?
After a troubling economic year for many large finance and Teclo providers, the future looks increasingly bright for those at the forefront of mobile payment technologies, with these particular companies at the forefront of the industry looking set to gain further yields from the economic uncertainty brought about by the pandemic.
People will always need to find a way to keep in touch and send money with ease, so the future looks very much set to continue to shine on those making the world more connected; representing a shrewd investment heading into Q4 and beyond.
