SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
XE.com, part of Euronet Worldwide, Inc., (NASDAQ: EEFT) one of the world’s largest global payments companies, today announced findings from its global payments report based on U.S. dollar transactions that shows when, where, and for what reasons U.S. residents transfer money around the world.
“Now is a great time to be in the global payments and currency transfer business,” said Simon Griffin, CEO, XE Money Transfer Division, one of the newest global payments entrants in the U.S. market. “While the business environment is opportune for companies in our sphere, expansion is not without its challenges. A rapidly growing customer base in a younger market, such as the U.S., means the service and the technology must keep up with the increasing demand.”
XE.com, which has an average of 23 million monthly unique web visitors and has seen its currency transfer app downloaded more than 58 million times, reported global currency transfer activity from November 2016 – May 2017, from the U.S. dollar to 60 currencies in 99 countries.
XE.com’s report shows that the most common purpose for global payments was for bills, which applies to any personal or business-related expenses. There were $30 million bill payment-related transactions during the seven-month period. The second most popular purpose of payment was living expenses, which totaled $26.6 million in transfers. Travel expenses, mortgage and rental payments, along with cash gifts, rounded out the top five.
Most of the transfers were to European countries, however it’s the U.S.’s neighbor to the north that took the number-one spot. Canada saw $5.6 million in transfers from USD in that period as compared to the U.K. ($4.3 million), Germany ($2.8 million), France ($1.7 million) and Spain ($1.2 million). In Asia – Thailand, Japan and the Philippines were all in the top 20.
Said Griffin: “Just given the number of transfers, in such a short time, as a new player in the market, we’re seeing the tremendous need among consumers for an alternative to traditional bank currency transfer offerings, which are synonymous with higher fees and slower service. It’s our mission to bring a first-rate experience to all our users and we’ve proven that we’re able to do that globally. We know it’ll be no different in the U.S.”
Currency Transfer Highlights:
- Location, Location, Location: When combining all real estate related transactions (e.g., mortgage, rental, property purchases, etc.) there were more than $32 million in transfers. The most popular country – Spain
- Somebody’s Getting Married: While not the most frequent purpose of international payment its worth noting that the grand total for wedding expenses was about $300,000. The most popular spot to get hitched – France
- Better to Give than Receive: People sent a total of $5 million in gift money abroad. The beneficiary of most of that gift money – The U.K.
- Knowledge Is Power – In the last two semesters, students transferred a total of $1.7 million for tuition payments. The most popular place to study abroad – Canada
About XE.com
XE.com, a part of the Euronet (NASDAQ:EEFT) family, serves more than 275 million unique visitors each year with a variety of tools and services including the XE Currency Converter, Currency Market Analysis, and the XE Currency App, which has received more than 58 million downloads and has a five-star rating. Since 2002, XE.com has processed $10 Billion in global payments and served thousands of businesses and individuals. Additionally, XE Currency Data is used by thousands of businesses from small-to-medium-sized enterprises, to Fortune 500 companies.
About Euronet Worldwide, Inc.
Euronet Worldwide is an industry leader in processing secure electronic financial transactions. The company offers payment and transaction processing solutions to financial institutions, retailers, service providers and individual consumers. Euronet's global payment network is extensive - including 35,145 ATMs, approximately 176,000 EFT POS terminals and a growing portfolio of outsourced debit and credit card services which are under management in 53 countries; card software solutions; a prepaid processing network of approximately 666,000 POS terminals at approximately 308,000 retailer locations in 35 countries; and a global money transfer network of approximately 321,000 locations serving 146 countries. With corporate headquarters in Leawood, Kansas, and 61 worldwide offices, Euronet serves clients in approximately 160 countries. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.euronetworldwide.com.
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