Remittance’s Transaction on Zendmoney Increased 10%

Remittance’s transactions on Zendmoney platform increased by more than 10% during the corona pandemic. The financial technology startup (fintech lending) noted that there were many Indonesian workers (TKI) who sent money to their families through online services due to the area quarantine (lockdown) and social restrictions.

The company, which was established late last year, recorded an average transaction of Rp 40 billion per month. Its value increases when the coronavirus is endemic. “More than two digits,” said Zendmoney Founder and CEO Bong Defendy during a video conference on Thursday (4/16).

Many Indonesian migrant workers abroad use interstate money transfer services on their platforms. At least, Zendmoney has already attracted more than 100,000 customers. As many as 90% of them are migrant workers.

The rest are business people and students. “During the current pandemic, the need for fast, affordable and safe fund transfer services is becoming more crucial,” Bong said.

Only, the exchange rate volatility affects remittance services. A weakening Rupiah against the United States dollar (US) makes shipping rates more expensive. However, Bong insisted that his company increased flat costs.

Flat-Fee Is One of Zendmoney’s Advantages

In an online media conference held today (16/4), Bong Defendy as CEO and Co-Founder of Zendmoney said that flat fees are one of the advantages that distinguish ZendMoney from other remittance service providers.

“Most conventional remittance services apply a fund transfer rate based on a percentage of the value sent. Zendmoney applies a flat fee because we understand that most of our users are PMIs, who may be burdened with transfer fees based on the percentage of the value of the funds transferred, ”Defendy explained.

In addition to PMI, flat-free is also applied for Zendmoney users who come from the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector.

Regarding this UKM, Defendy revealed that Zendmoney is currently trying to develop services for SMEs in Indonesia so that they can get remittance services that are more affordable and also fast so that they can help their businesses.

“We are also trying to open a new corridor to help migrant workers in other countries, and also develop business models for outbound remittances,” said Defendy.

The company provides contactless ball pickup services using plastic envelopes. Zendmoney also converts proof of physical receipt into e-receipt and is sent via the WhatsApp application. Account verification is also done via video call on WhatsApp.

In The Last 3 Months, There Has Been an Increase in Transactions

The company relies on applications for users, which were launched last year. Previously, Zendmoney only operated using an application for tellers. At present, Zendmoney already serves users in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

This fintech startup in the field of remittance service providers plans to expand the market, one of them to the Middle East. Because they noted there are many Indonesian migrant workers in the Middle East.

Besides Zendmoney, PT Intrajasa Teknosolusi recorded an increase in transactions during the first three months of this year. In general, remittance transactions by non-bank institutions are indeed quite high, especially remittances from abroad.

The increase was able to cover the decline in transfers of funds abroad and domestically. Data from Bank Indonesia (BI) shows that the nominal transfer of funds from abroad using remittance services reached Rp 5.6 trillion in February.

This value is up 7.82% compared to January. Meanwhile, the transfer of funds abroad using remittance services in February was recorded at Rp 3.14 trillion. The value is down 5.95% compared to January. For domestic funds transfers, the nominal value is Rp 9.79 trillion, down 0.49%.

Although transfers of funds abroad and domestically declined, the total nominal transaction reached Rp 18.54 trillion in February. Its value edged up 0.86% compared to the total nominal transfer of funds in January 2020.