IDT Eyes Latin America, Beyond with New Remittance Service (Aug. 5, 2013)
Aug. 5, 2013
Telecom and payment services provider IDT Corp. has added a new international money transfer service to its Boss Revolution payment platform. The remittance service currently is live for recipients in Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. IDT Payment Services—the IDT Corp. subsidiary that runs Boss Revolution—said within the next year, the remittance service will expand to recipients in most of the remaining countries in Latin America, plus more than 20 African nations and Asian markets including China, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Currently, Boss Revolution customers in the U.S. can send cash via mobile phone to recipients in Latin America for pickup at 6,000 bank branch and retail locations, direct deposit or home delivery. IDT said it plans to add 15,000 additional locations in Latin America by the end of this year. Customers don’t need a credit card or bank account to send or receive funds.
Remittances to Latin America topped $61 billion in 2012, with transfers sent from the U.S. comprising just under 40 percent of that total, according to a report by the Multilateral Investment Fund, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group. Money transfer stalwart Western Union also has been working to grow its remittance business in the region, launching a prepaid remittance card in El Salvador in June 2012. The company has since expanded the Receive card program to other Latin American nations, including Costa Rica and Guatemala.
