If ever there was a market begging for disruption, it’s remittances. That’s when people working abroad send money to their home country.
The biggest is from Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia and sending money to family back home – about $8 billion a year. Then it’s Egyptians working in the UAE and sending money home – also about $8 billion a year.
Followed by Nigerians in the US who ship nearly $6 billion a year back home. Zimbabweans working in South Africa send about $1 billion back home each year. Nigerians in SA ship $340 million, and Mozambicans about $254 million. 
Here’s the shocker:
The World Bank keeps tabs on global remittances and the charges. If you want to send R1,370 from SA to Malawi, you’ll pay 34% of that if you do it through Absa.
Bank Total Remittance Cost
Absa (through a branch) 34.54%
Absa (via internet) 23.25%
Nedbank 32.46%
Standard Bank 29.15%
FNB 23.84%
WorldRemit 2%
Source: World Bank
Crypto Destroys This Model
It’s of course absurd that you would pay a quarter to a third of your remittance amount in fees. That’s why crypto will demolish this absurdity – and not a moment too soon.
Opening an account for 80Eight and sending the same amount to Malawi will cost about 1%.
Think about that when next you need to ship money abroad.
