Revolut Taps $48 Billion Remittance Market: Enables Users to Send Money to China

Revolut targets the overseas Chinese diaspora as it has enabled customers to send money to China in Chinese yuan, following a partnership with Ant International’s Alipay. It stressed that the service will be “compliant, stable and fast.”

Announced today (Tuesday), the British fintech company detailed that its customers can send money to China using the recipient’s Alipay ID, name, and address. Also, the transfers will be processed instantly.

Standard Revolut customers will need to pay 0.15 per cent or a minimum fee of SG$5.90 per transaction, while Premium customers will pay 0.12 per cent or a minimum of SG$4.72. There will be no transaction fee for the platform’s Metal customers.

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Targeting a Top Remittance Market

While Revolut has positioned itself as one of the top fintech platforms, Alipay is one of the most widely used payment apps in China. Launched in 2004, Alipay is one of the 36 e-wallets supported by Alipay+ under Ant International.

Revolut’s partnership with Ant is strategic. The country, run by the Communist government, receives an estimated inflow of $48 billion every year, placing it among the top five countries in terms of received remittances.

The fintech also pointed out that China is the leading destination for remittance from Singapore, mostly due to the city-state’s large Chinese diaspora. However, the remittance facility to China will be available to Revolut’s over 50 million global customer base.

“China is one of the world’s largest remittance markets and we see strong demand from our customers for a secure and affordable way to send money there,” said Raymond Ng, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore and Southeast Asia at Revolut.

Revolut Is Expanding

Meanwhile, Revolut is focusing on its aggressive global expansion. Last month, it agreed to acquire Banco Cetelem in Argentina from BNP Paribas, marking its first direct entry into the South American banking market.

It is also looking to expand its presence in Israel and is in talks with the Bank of Israel to acquire a “lean bank” licence in the country.

Revolut started as a challenger bank but received a banking licence in the country after years of delay. It also obtained a banking licence in Mexico last year and already operates in the European Union with a Lithuanian banking licence. It is further seeking a banking licence in New Zealand and plans to invest more than €1 billion (US$1.1 billion) in France, where it will apply for a French banking licence.