How has technology made money transfers cheaper and faster? Financial Technology—or simply FinTech—is the main reason for the decreasing costs and increasing speed of sending money to your loved ones. FinTech includes all types of innovation that help improve your experience in dealing with your finances, including saving, spending, and remitting.
Instarem (short for Instant Remittances) is a leading digital cross-border payments platform that enables consumers and SMEs to send and collect international money transfers conveniently and securely. It is a great example of how FinTech has created a solution for the difficulty of sending money overseas.
This Singapore-based company was launched in 2015 and was an idea born out of Prajit Nanu’s, CEO and co-founder of Instarem, own experience in facing the difficulty of transferring money overseas. Prajit had wanted to send a small amount of money from India to Thailand back in 2013 but was asked by the bank to provide a lot of documentation and a large fee before being able to send it over. From this experience, he built Instarem to help address the inconvenience and high cost of sending money overseas.
Since its launch, Instarem was able to grow rapidly from only starting in Australia to obtaining licences to operate in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and even in the US, UK, Canada, and Lithuania. The company now currently operates over six continents, allowing over 130 million users to send remittances to over 100 countries with over 65 currencies.
What made Instarem so popular and grow so quickly? Financial Technology!
- Quick transfers: Instarem’s transfers are received in real time or within as little as 5 minutes to a few hours post payment, in comparison to sending money with traditional banks that can take up to 2-4 business days.
- Choice of currencies: Instarem supports multiple currencies including SGD, AUD, USD, GBP, INR, EUR, HKD and MYR with exchange rates that are significantly better and more cost-effective when compared to banks.
- Low fees: Instarem’s peer-to-peer model allows continuous exchange of money between users. This means that you are able to skip the middleman and enjoy competitive charges—paying as little as 0.5% of the amount you are sending compared to 6-7% or sometimes even higher fees charged by traditional providers.
- Competitive exchange rates: Instarem’s efficient processes allows it to only add a lower margin on top of the mid-market exchange. This means that there is only a little extra cost on the exchange rate you see on Google and Reuters. The margin charged by traditional providers are still more significant.
- Cash payout in the Philippines: Instarem allows you to transfer cash to your recipient in the Philippines. With the cash pick-up option, your recipient can collect Pesos at one of Instarem’s partner locations such as Cebuana Lhuillier, Bayad Center, Maybank, LBC, Palawan and many more.
- Earn Points: With InstaPoints, you can earn points on your transfers to redeem for discounts on your future transfers. However, note that the points depend on how much you are sending. Click here for more information.
Enjoy these offers by sending with Instarem using the following steps:
1. Download the Instarem app or go to their website.
2. Create an account. Get your ID ready to be verified.
3. Enter your recipient’s details, including their full name and bank account details.
4. Add how much you want to send and how you’ll pay for the transfer. You can transfer money to Instarem through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) / Bank Transfers / Wire Transfers in all countries. You can also send money through POLi or PayID (in Australia), and FPX (in Malaysia).
5. If you chose POLi, you’ll be redirected to its site to pay. If you chose a bank transfer, you’ll be given InstaReM’s bank account details, which you’ll send your money to.
6. InstaReM will let you know when the transfer takes place and when it’s completed.
Article by Malorie Manaois, Financial Literacy and Content, DMA
Posted on 14 August 2021