Xoom Expands To 11 More Countries

Xoom, the PayPal-owned digital money transfer service, has announced a major expansion to 11 countries — and two more on the horizon.

As a result, Xoom will now be available in 53 countries, with the newest on its list including: Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Ghana, Haiti, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.

As part of the expansion, Xoom users can send money from the U.S. to M-Pesa accounts in Kenya, along with providing services, like cash pickup and mobile reload, in Haiti and Nepal and bank deposits in Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Ghana, Nepal, Nigeria, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia. Xoom said it’s working with global financial service providers and mobile wallet services, including Barclays in Europe, C.A.M. and UniTransfer in Haiti, Bank of Everest in Nepal and M-Pesa in Kenya, to make this possible.

“Together, PayPal and Xoom are helping to expand and improve financial participation and financial health for billions of people worldwide. We’re providing seamless, secure options for loved ones to send friends and family money for things like utility bills, education and health care costs and more. We continue to be committed to making the management and movement of money better, easier and more affordable for people across the world,” John Kunze, vice president of Xoom, wrote on the company’s blog.

Specifically in the countries Xoom is in, remittances play a major role in shaping the economic development. For example, in a region like Nepal, remittances account for 25 percent of the country’s GDP.

“When Xoom enters a new market, we have a history of using technology to help bring remittances costs down, improve customer service and increase the speed and convenience of money transfers,” Kunze wrote. “In fact, the World Bank recently published numbers that people sending money from the U.S. to three of Xoom’s largest markets — India, Mexico and the Philippines — have saved $1.2 billion annually in remittances costs between 2008 and 2015. We know that more consumer choice and digital and mobile technologies have helped to make these savings possible.”