Your Bank's $65 Billion Blind Spot: The Untapped Remittance Market Next Door

The remittance market is changing fast

The remittance market is undergoing a profound transformation, with advances in money movement, flexible work options, and permanent migration taking global remittance flows to $900 billion in 2024 - with North America accounting for nearly $300 billion of that volume.¹ In this new era of cross-border money movement, banks in North America can benefit by offering fast, secure, and transparent remittances services to their customers. Yet, despite the global scale of the remittance opportunity, many banks in North America are still sitting on the sidelines.

Why? Historically, North America’s banks have viewed remittances as a low-margin, high-risk service that doesn’t align with their core strategy. Concerns about compliance, operational complexity, and perceived lack of cross-sell opportunities have kept many institutions away. Banks can get overwhelmed thinking about the incremental risks they have to manage such as being able to help facilitate near-real-time² transactions. Things like compliance and risk concerns are often cited as barriers; if they don’t have that capability in-house, they need to procure it through a partner or build that capability themselves.

Meanwhile, digital-first fintechs and money transfer operators are stepping in to capture the demand for fast, simple remittance services, often funded directly from banks’ customers’ checking accounts. This is the stark reality for traditional banks.

Recent Visa research has found that over one in six adults³ in North America has sent a remittance, and 88% of these customers³ have a bank account. They trust their bank for everyday financial needs, yet when it comes to sending money abroad, they are turning elsewhere. This is a missed opportunity for banks, not just for revenue, but for deepening customer relationships.

Remittances are not a niche service. They are low-ticket, high-frequency transactions. Each transaction can generate $8–$16⁴ in revenue margin, creating a steady, recurring income stream. For banks, offering remittance services strengthens loyalty. When customers can send money abroad seamlessly through their bank’s digital platform, they are less likely to look elsewhere for financial solutions.

Hello, neighbor. Meet your best remittance opportunity

The good news is that the remittance opportunity for US banks is concentrated and manageable. Over 70%⁵ of North America’s outbound remittance corridors flow to just 10 countries worldwide, and 85% of North American outbound remittances go to five LAC countries, underscoring the concentration of flows.

Of these, Mexico is the largest single corridor globally, receiving $65 billion from North America in 2024. Four remittance corridors are also North America’s neighbors²:

• Guatemala: $22bn
• Honduras: $8bn
• El Salvador: $7bn
• Dominican Republic: $9bn

Starting with these corridors allows North America’s banks to scale efficiently while meeting the needs of their most active customers.

Your customers are consumers, and their expectations have changed

Digital banking is redefining convenience. To consumers used to today’s instant economy, delays feel outdated and unacceptable. Real-time⁵ payments are the single most important digital feature they expect in the next three years. This expectation extends to cross-border transfers. They want to control their payment experience from their phones, anywhere in the world, whenever they want. Meeting this expectation is no longer optional; it’s a competitive imperative.

By offering receiver-directed payouts and flexible options, banks can reduce friction and create experiences that resonate emotionally with customers. By partnering and adding real-time⁵ remittance services, banks can reduce the impact of losing customers to digital-first providers.

Partnering with the right technology provider can simplify the process dramatically. Modern platforms can embed identity verification into the transaction flow, reducing operational burden while maintaining security.

The Visa Direct Network, ensuring real-time⁵ remittances

This is where Visa Direct Network comes in. As the world’s largest money movement network at scale, it gives banks reach into 195+ countries and territories across more than ~12 billion endpoints that cover card, account and wallets to pay out in over 150+ different currencies. Visa Direct is not just an unseen network, it’s also a global network of payment experts who can help you identify and target customers who are sending remittances and give insight into where they are sending them to. For banks based in New York with its high Ecuadorian population, or Texas, with high remittance flows to Mexico, the business imperative is clear.

For over 60 years, Visa has been constantly innovating, investing $10 billion in research and development across its global payment capabilities in the past five years alone to help optimize services like Visa Direct. Visa Direct is one platform with end-to-end support and payments expertise to help you optimize your remittance program.

Remittance and the stablecoin opportunity

Stablecoins could soon be used widely in the global remittance market to reduce the costs of sending remittance and increase transparency around fees and FX rates.⁶ Stablecoins present a significant opportunity for cross-border payments. Visa Direct is piloting cross-border settlement using stablecoins.⁶ This would allow for streamlined 24/7 settlement and bring greater flexibility to the sender and receiver who are no longer reliant on banking hours. While still early, these innovations signal a future where cross-border payments are faster, cheaper, and more transparent than ever.

Stablecoin payouts on Visa Direct is a natural extension of what Visa Direct already offers – adding new currencies and new pay rails.⁶ Peer to peer remittances using stablecoins will facilitate cross-border payments, particularly where there is a volatile currency.⁶ For example, markets where there might be a volatile national currency, for example people in Brazil can’t have a USD bank account, but they can have a digital USDC account.

Be the first mover, and strengthen customer loyalty

Your customers are already sending money abroad. The question is: will they do it through your bank or a digital-first competitor? With Visa Direct embedded in their existing digital platform, banks can capture this demand, strengthen customer loyalty, and unlock a new revenue stream, all while delivering a secure, fast, flexible, and cost-effective service that exceeds their customers’ expectations.

Visa Direct is not just a payment rail; it’s an end-to-end solution designed for banks:

• Speed: Real-time² transfers that meet consumer expectations.
• Simplicity: Visa Direct provides tools and features that can support compliance processes; however, banks remain fully responsible for meeting all regulatory requirements.
• Scalability: Start with top corridors and expand as demand grows.

The Visa Direct partner ecosystem also provides white-label solutions, enabling banks to embed remittance services directly into their digital channels. Customers never leave your app, and the experience feels seamless and branded.

A huge remittance opportunity for North America’s banks is on the doorstep. Banks that embrace it will not only grow but thrive in an increasingly global economy. Visa Direct is ready to help you make it happen securely, seamlessly, and at scale.

Visa Direct. Move money your way.

To learn more about money movement, visit: visa.com/visadirect