Visa: 75% of remittances now sent via digital means

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines achieved a digital remittances adoption rate of 75 percent this year, making it the third highest out of 20 countries in terms of sending and receiving money abroad digitally, according to Visa.

Based on Visa’s 2024 Digital Remittances Adoption report, around 75 percent of Filipino respondents said they send and receive remittances through a digital app. This is higher than the 52 percent digital adoption rate recorded in Visa’s previous survey a year ago.

Out of 20 countries surveyed for the report, the Philippines ranked third in terms of digital remittance adoption following Brazil (80 percent) and India (76 percent).

Other countries in the top 10 are: China (71 percent), Germany (71 percent), Singapore (69 percent), the United Kingdom (68 percent), the United States (68 percent), Australia (67 percent) and Sweden (67 percent).

“The high usage of digital apps is mostly attributed to ease of use and safety,” Visa said. “Those surveyed highest for ease in sending/receiving in Asia Pacific include the Philippines (53 percent/57 percent), “ it said.

For the 2024 Digital Remittances Adoption report, Visa surveyed nearly 45,000 remittance senders and receivers across 20 countries.

The survey was conducted from December 2023 to March 2024.

In an online media briefing, Visa country manager for the Philippines Jeff Navarro said the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Filipinos to send money home and abroad digitally, lessening the need to visit a physical bank or financial institution.

He also noted that 58 percent of respondents said they would like to use a digital app in the future.

“The future is already here. It’s digital, and it’s going to be more digital and it will accelerate because the intent and the preference of consumers is leading towards the use of digital apps,” he said.

Chavi Jafa, Visa’s senior vice president and head of commercial and money movement solutions in Asia Pacific, said that three out of the top five receiving markets across the world are in Asia-Pacific, namely the Philippines, India and China.

“Around 62 percent of the receivers in the Philippines indicated that they did think digital solutions were the most secure way of receiving money,” she said.

However, Navarro said there are still barriers in sending and receiving money abroad that needs to be addressed. Filipinos are demanding for faster transactions processed in real time, more seamless customer experience with online channels and robust security.

“Digital is the key preferred mode of money transfer because it really addresses speed, convenience and security. It could also lead to a big factor in influencing costs,” he said.

Citing World Bank data, the average fee of sending money to another country is around 6.9 percent of the amount being sent.

Navarro said using digital apps to send money can reduce costs to about 4.6 percent of the amount.

Based on the latest data from the central bank, remittances rose by 3.7 percent to $2.88 billion in May from $2.78 billion in the same month last year. It marked the fastest in five months.

From January to May, personal remittances inched up by three percent to $14.89 billion from $14.46 billion in the same period a year ago.