Revolut to offer 30-minute, fee-free remittances from US to Mexico

Dive Brief:

Revolut customers based in the U.S. can now send up to 10 money transfers to any bank in Mexico per month, fee-free and in less than 30 minutes, according to a company press release Friday.
The London-based fintech first keyed in to cross-border payments between the two countries with the launch of its U.S.-Mexico remittance corridor in July 2021. Now, the company is accelerating the speed of the money transfers and eliminating fees.
U.S. customers using the free version of the Revolut app can send up to $1,000 per month to bank accounts in Mexico without incurring fees.

Dive Insight:

The challenger bank launched its U.S. arm around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has since muscled in on the U.S.-Mexico remittance corridor that has ballooned over the course of the pandemic.

Revolut began offering money transfers between the U.S. and Mexico at the real exchange rate last summer, and announced it would allow customers to make 10 fee-free transfers per month in October. Customers can make an account with Revolut and initiate a transfer within minutes.

“Last year, over $45 billion was sent from the US to Mexico, and had these funds been transferred through Revolut, over $2.25 billion would’ve been unlocked for US customers,” said Juan Miguel Guerra, CEO of Revolut Mexico. “Despite being the largest remittance corridor in the world, sending money from the US to Mexico is slow and expensive. We are ... tremendously proud to be putting more money back in the pockets of families in Mexico and the USA.”

Remittances sent from the U.S. to Mexico increased by 37.7% between November 2020 and 2021, according to research published by BBVA this month. The number of Mexican migrants in the U.S. grew by 400,000 — to 11.9 million — in 2021, from the year before.

Nonetheless, the remittance space is competitive, and Revolut must contend with companies like MoneyGram and Western Union.

The U.K.-based fintech said it counts more than 18 million customers worldwide, making 150 million transactions per month.

Revolut has unveiled a number of products to attract more customers and become a “financial super app,” including commission-free stock trading to the mobile app earlier this month. Revolut users can trade 1,000 securities on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, according to TechCrunch.

The fintech is also pursuing a banking charter in the U.S., and is eyeing expansion into Latin America “beyond remittances” — possibly into Brazil, Friday's press release said.