British money transfer firm TransferWise has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years and now the company is eyeing an expansion in the lucrative Middle Eastern market. To that end, the company is possibly going to use its newly acquired license for operations in Abu Dhabi. The company announced today that it has been awarded a Money Services Provider license for Abu Dhabi. By way of that license, the company will be able to provide its services to users in the entire United Arab Emirates. Users will be able to transfer money from their TransferWise accounts to other accounts all across the globe.
The service will be available in the local currency dirham, also known as AED. The Chief Executive Officer of London based company Kristo Kaarmann stated,
Money transfers from AED have long been one of our most wished for currencies, so we always knew we’d begin our expansion into the Middle East in the Emirates.
The cross border money transfer business has grown significantly due to the rise of the Fintech industry and TransferWise is now in competition with money transfer giants like MoneyGram and Western Union.
The expansion into the Middle East is a sound strategy considering the fact that the remittance market in the area has grown significantly over recent years. More importantly, the Middle Eastern nations have now become highly focused on developing their own Fintech industries and hence, are now far more welcoming of companies like TransferWise. Over the past few years, Fintech has managed to disrupt the money transfer industry in a big way and the imminent launch of TransferWise is another positive step in that direction. The company is going to establish its office in Abu Dhabi and the Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority is going to regulate the company once it starts its operations.
