Remittances to Mexico increasingly travel through digital channels

Mexicans are more adopting the collection of remittances through digital channels as they see lower commissions and consider that shipments are safe, according to Visa.

81% of Mexicans living abroad say they send money to their families in the country so they can make their daily purchases and take care of emergencies.

Just under half of Mexicans who send remittances to their families in Mexico say they trust digital channels to do this operation.

45% of Mexicans use digital applications because they consider them to be a safe way to send remittances to their family members, according to a study carried out by Visa called Money travels: adoption of digital remittances 2023.

The preference for digital channels occurs among those who send money from abroad, since 75% of Mexicans who send remittances to their relatives use a digital channel, the study says. Of the remittance recipients, only 66% collect them through digital channels.

"We believe that the convenience of not having to visit a branch will also create a different habit of using the remittance," Rubén Salazar, global leader of Visa Direct, said in an interview.

The businessman highlights that with physical channels, those who send remittances have to wait longer to send money while with digital channels smaller amounts can be sent but more frequently.

"If before they sent around 300 or 500 two months a month, now they will do it faster and they will send less each week, but more or less the same amount of remittance will arrive," added Salazar.

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The Visa study highlights that another benefit of digitalization is practicality, in addition to the fact that rates are higher in physical channels.

The director of the issuing company highlighted that the sending of remittances through digital channels is low in Mexico when compared to other countries such as Peru, where adoption is 52%.

The road to digitalization can be long because 34% of Mexicans prefer to go to a branch and 11% of those surveyed choose to wait for their family member to arrive from abroad and bring them the cash.

"There is still a way to go, we believe we are in the first years of seeing mass adoption of digital media and with that comes a whole security issue," he added.

Regarding the use of stable cryptocurrencies such as the USD stablecoin, Visa said that Mexicans use cryptocurrencies more as an investment method and few use crypto assets to collect remittances.

By Luz Elena Marcos Mendez