Dubai: Xpress Money is seeking greener pastures abroad, and plans to expand footprint in $360 billion (Dh1.32 trillion) remittance market in North America, Canada, Europe and Asia Pacific following the slowdown in remittance growth to single digits in the Gulf region, a top official said in an interview.

Currently, the UK, Europe, the US, Canada and Asia Pacific constitute 25 per cent of the company’s business, and Xpress Money expects these regions to contribute to 50 per cent of the business in the next 2-3 years.

“The Gulf region is not growing exponentially, the other side [North America, Canada, the UK and Europe] is growing much more for us, and as we entered the market much later, there is a lot to take from those markets,” Sudesh Giriyan, chief operating officer at Xpress Money, told Gulf News.

Xpress Money entered European markets in 2010, and obtained its licence in the United States about five years ago. It has been in the Gulf region ever since its inception in 1999.

“We are gung-ho on double-digit growth this year. The higher growth will come from those markets in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. We are looking at 12-13 per cent growth this year. For Gulf markets we expect single-digit growth,” Giriyan said.

And Giriyan has a concrete plan for the newer markets. Xpress Money is seeking to enter into a large partnership in the US this year, and sees another two partnerships in the medium term. The company is also looking at partnerships in European markets.

But getting into those markets would mean Xpress Money will have to brace for tough competition.

Giriyan, however, thinks that their large payment network and lower cost base will tide them over.

“We have a fantastic global payout network, [which is an] omni-channelled payout network [in the form of] account credit, mobile wallet credits and home delivery. We are the only money transfer agency which can put money on prepaid cards,” Giriyan said.

As of today, Xpress Money has crossed 200,000 agent locations mark globally. Giriyan says that over the next 12-18 months, the company plans to expand this network to 300,000 locations.

In the Gulf, Xpress Money has 4,000 agent locations. And in India, it has about 55,000 agent locations, and plans to have 80,000 physical payment locations, which could be with banks, non-banking financial companies and retail, in the next 12-18 months. The cost of remittance is about 2 per cent, compared to 7.5 per cent in the rest of the world.

Digital offering

Xpress Money also wants to develop its digital offerings in the payment space to be able to cater to developed markets.

“The largest markets for digital [offerings] are based in developed markets. This is where our focus on digital will be in the next few years,” Giriyan said.

By 2020, the company plans to have at least 25 per cent of its business from digital, compared to the current 6 per cent.

And the long-term strategy is to become payment solution provider.

“There is so much potential in [the] payment space. There is a very large chunk of business waiting to be tapped in payment space, like business-to-customer, customer-to-business and business-to-business. That would be prioritised in coming years,” Giriyan said.