Digital bank Revolut has introduced a new cross-border money transfer service called Mobile Wallets that redefines remittance experiences, requiring only receivers’ contacts for transactions.

Revolut has announced the launch of the Mobile Wallets feature which allows its customers to send money abroad quickly using only the recipient name alongside their phone number or email addresses.

The service has already been linked to a few locally popular wallets like M-Pesa in Kenya and bKash in Bangladesh. That enables?Revolut customers in the UK and most European countries (EEA) to send money to the above-mentioned countries seamlessly. Other wallet routes are expected to be added soon.

“We’re delighted to launch Mobile Wallets so that Revolut customers can send money in a flash. Sending money home is a problem many expats face and so it is essential to provide a service that simplifies this and facilitates affordable and convenient international money transfers.

Akshat Mittal, General Manager for Revolut International Payments

Mobile Wallets has a similar price structure as Revolut bank transfers. Its main advantages are ease of use and speed, in contrast to legacy bank transfers.

Kenya and Bangladesh were chosen as the first markets to launch the product due to the high adoption of mobile wallet solutions nationwide.

At present, more than 50% of the world’s mobile money users live in Africa, with Kenya leading the continent’s adoption charts. In Bangladesh, over 100 million people have registered with one or a few mobile financial service providers, which is almost 60% of the country’s total population.

Mobile Wallets by Revolut will be specifically helpful as a payment option for expats and international students living abroad.

Bangladeshis are one of the UK’s largest immigrant groups and also one of the country’s youngest and fastest-growing communities. According to HESA statistics, Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing source markets for the UK higher education sector. The number of Bangladeshi students enrolled in British universities increased by 91% between the 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years, reaching 12,700.

As we have previously reported, HSBC Holdings plans to release an innovative app for international payment transactions to compete with industry challengers like Revolut and Wise.