MoneyGram (MGI) Ties Up to Ease India's Cross-Border Remittances

MoneyGram International, Inc. MGI recently forged an alliance with India’s leading payments bank Paytm Payments Bank for a breakthrough move in digitizing its global receive network. Banking on this partnership, MoneyGram customers can now send funds in near real time to fully KYC-compliant Paytm Wallets in India.

MoneyGram will be able to expand its portfolio of mobile wallet capabilities into major receive markets in the world. Per the World Bank's 2020 estimates, India is the largest inbound market with remittances across the globe estimated at $83 billion for the year. Moreover, MGI’s digital transactions in India reflect around half of the transactions received in the country.

The Indian market is apt for this move as the rate of transactions sent directly to bank accounts is up around six times from just under 10% two short years ago.

The latest partnership can be deemed time opportune as well. The COVD-19 pandemic made digital money transfers the need of the hour for addressing emergency needs. Consequently, the currently Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) player is focused on promoting digitization of the money movement process.

Given robust consumer demand for faster remittances, the financial miscellaneous services player is apt for capitalizing on the prevalent scenario. MoneyGram leaves no stone unturned when it comes to tying up with global and regional financial service providers to upgrade the money movement process for consumers and businesses.

MoneyGram has been pursuing initiatives to bolster its digital capabilities and facilitate an enhanced management of global payments for a long time now. The latest move highlights MGI’s sincere efforts to strengthen presence across India. In 2020, MGI partnered Ebix (NASDAQ:EBIX), Inc., a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and e-commerce services to handle the inward remittances to India.

MGI made multiple efforts to solidify its international operations and effected significant investments to upgrade its digital capabilities.

Similar to MGI, other companies, such as The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) WU, Visa Inc (NYSE:V). V and Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) MA resorted to digital partnerships for capitalizing on solid demand for hassle-free cross-border payments.

Western Union was able to build a robust digital arm through several digital tie-ups and substantial investments. WU has been entering into several collaborations with global and local financial service providers, aimed at bolstering the digital services portfolio, facilitating an enhanced management of global payments and enriching customer experience.

In November 2021, Western Union teamed up with Metrobank so that inbound money transfer receivers in the Philippines can directly receive money into bank accounts.

Visa facilitates a smooth and secure transfer of funds on a real-time basis worldwide. For complementing its endeavor, V pursues collaborations to aid the cross-border payments industry with innovative digital solutions and replace the age-old processes. Visa B2B Connect delivers innovative B2B cross-border payments and keeps adding partners to its network.

Mastercard recently collaborated with Jordan-based real-time payment solutions company ProgressSoft to enhance processing of cross-border payments by banks throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Its cross-border volumes have been witnessing a surge of late.

Shares of MoneyGram have gained 32.3% in a year compared with the industry’s growth of 16.2%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

While Mastercard and Visa stocks have gained 6.4% and 4.4% each in a year, shares of Western Union have lost 18.3%.

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