Adapting Cross-Border Payments During the Pandemic: An Overview of Key Players' Strategies

In a recent Forbes column, Daniel Webber shared insights from six leading financial services companies and their CEOs, providing a comprehensive overview of their adaptations during the pandemic. The companies discussed include Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria, Remitly, WorldRemit, and TransferWise.

The column delved into various aspects of digital transformation within these companies. It was revealed that the shares of increases and decreases differ by each pay-in and pay-out method. Pricing strategies have seen changes, with early pandemic pricing reductions giving way to a return to normal strategies.

One key takeaway from the data presented is the importance of cash payout solutions in enabling digital transactions. A cash payout solution is critical for the seamless execution of digital transactions, as the data reveals.

Hikmet Ersek, Alex Holmes, Shawn Fielder, Kristo Käärmann, Matt Oppenheimer, and Breon Corcoran, the CEOs of the respective companies, were interviewed for the Forbes column. Kristo, TransferWise's CEO, acknowledged that while their "Mission Zero" aims to make moving money free, it may not reach exactly zero, and may require subsidies.

The column also provided insights into the sizes, key metrics for digital (such as revenue and customer counts), the differences in how digital is categorized for each company, and the value of cash payout networks.

Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, SAP, and Deutsche Telekom, among the largest tech and digital business companies by market value, were not detailed in the search results regarding their specific income and customer data. However, they are known to have millions to billions of users respectively.

Shopify powers over 4.5 million online stores globally, targeting both small and growing businesses with various pricing tiers. Shopware, a German open-source e-commerce platform, is favoured for flexible, complex B2B applications and is used by brands like Melitta and Borussia Dortmund, but without detailed revenue or user numbers provided.

The data shows that pricing in the sector is not going to zero during the pandemic. Interestingly, only a subset of all digital transactions are fully digital on both ends. Within these companies, a transaction initiated digitally is considered digital, regardless of whether it ends in cash.

For more detailed data, readers are encouraged to reach out to the source. Cash has been a crucial factor in enabling digital growth, even before the pandemic, as shown by new data on transaction mixes across the six leading players. Across the first five companies, cash accounts for over 80% of total transactions (weighted by company size), and a high proportion of digital transactions.

This Forbes column provides a valuable resource for understanding the digital transformation strategies of leading financial services companies during the pandemic and beyond.