Apollo Fintech Rolls Out Cross-Border Payment Network

Apollo Fintech on Wednesday (Oct. 27) announced its bank wire network, Knox Wire, will debut Jan. 15, 2022, and that registrations are now available for the platform, which can process same-day cross-border payments for almost 20,000 financial institutions around the world.

Knox Wire’s network can be used by central banks, commercial banks, credit unions, loan associations, investment companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies, mortgage companies and most other financial institutions to send payments down the block or around the world.

It can also be a regional real-time gross settlement system, according to the announcement.

Knox Wire uses bidirectional messaging and anti-money laundering technology to reduce the average international wire wait time of three to five days to as little as 2 seconds, according to the announcement. It integrates almost all mainstream banking systems, using API, and the company’s development team can help with integration and maintenance.

Knox Wire requires no hardware or dedicated IT personnel and can be learned in a week of training with no cost to qualifying institutions and almost-instant transaction time within the network, the company said. The platform also offers same-day balance settlement and no pre-funding requirement for qualifying institutions.

Financial Institutions can sign up before the official launch date to integrate Knox Wire with no upfront or recurring costs.

Related: New Study: Crypto Emerging as a Favored Form for Cross-Border Remittances

Recent PYMNTS research shows nearly 60% of consumers who made cross-border remittances in the past year increased those payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and U.S. consumers send about $76 billion annually in remittances to people in other countries.

PYMNTS researchers found significant interest among the almost 2,100 people it surveyed in adopting cryptocurrency remittances as part of their cross-border payments. The Digital Currency Shift: The Cross-Border Remittances Report, done in collaboration with Stellar Development Foundation, shows 70% of consumers pay a fee to send money overseas, “with 41 percent paying a percentage fee averaging 6.2 percent, and 28 percent paying a fixed fee that averages $14.80.”

The cost to U.S. consumers is $3.5 billion, PYMNTS research shows, noting, “While 30 percent of respondents stated that they do not pay a fee, they may be paying exchange rate costs.”

What’s more, “23 percent of respondents — representing 8 million adults — who made online payments to friends or family in other countries used at least one kind of cryptocurrency. In fact, 13 percent of consumers surveyed say cryptocurrencies were their most used payment method for online cross-border remittances.”