TORONTO, January 9, 2024 – Visa and CIBC announced a new collaboration that will enable the bank’s clients to send funds to family and friends across borders more conveniently. Thanks to the innovative money movement capabilities of Visa Direct, CIBC and Simplii clients will soon be able to send money to a new range of digital wallets in key remittance destinations including the Philippines, China, Bangladesh, and Kenya, where they are the primary method for people to pay and get paid. The new capability will be made available early this year.
Driven by rapidly changing consumer demands, digital wallets are among the fastest growing financial instruments in the world, with global numbers expected to cross 5.2 billion by 2026.1 Particularly for unbanked individuals in emerging markets, digital wallets serve as a valuable gateway to the financial system.2
This announcement builds on the companies’ earlier collaboration that enables CIBC and Simplii clients to use Visa Direct-enabled cross-border person-to-person (P2P) and business-to-consumer (B2C) payouts through CIBC's and Simplii's Global Money Transfer service.
“Visa Direct enables consumers and businesses to send money cross-border with ease, and we are thrilled to work with industry leaders like CIBC and Simplii to provide even more remittance options for their customers,” said Sam Fuda, Vice President and Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions, Visa Canada. “Together, we are working to break down the barriers of cross-border money movement to improve speed, transparency, and accessibility for both the sender and receiver.”
Despite the swift global shift to digital platforms recently, certain cross-border money movement channels remain fragmented. The latest findings from Visa's 'Money Travels: 2023 Digital Remittances Adoption' study suggest that consumers anticipate a future driven by digital technology in this area. Canada ranks among the world's top 'sender' nations - those that send the highest amounts of money to recipients in foreign countries.3 In fact, 60% to 70% of remittance users in Canada and the U.S. have utilized an app-based digital payment method for international money transfers.4
Research by Simplii Financial revealed that three-quarters (75%) of respondents send money overseas at least once a month; nearly eight in ten (79%) are seeking a more convenient way to send money to friends and family outside Canada, and half spend more than $100 annually on transfer fees.5
“Sending foreign currency has become an increasingly important part of many Canadians’ daily banking needs—a trend that we expect will continue for years to come," said Jimmy Dinh, Managing Director, Direct Financial Services, CIBC Capital Markets. "Listening to our clients and working closely with Visa will help us to further build our unique no-transfer-fee cross-border payments platform that’s available with the rest of their banking services.”
Visa Direct provides access to nearly 8.5 billion endpoints, including 3+ billion accounts, 3+ billion cards, and 2.5+ billion digital wallets.6 Visa Direct is helping transform global money movement by facilitating the delivery of funds to eligible wallets, bank accounts, and cards around the world.