What are your expectations from the remittances this year during Ramadan & Eid? ? Especially after a year of Corona do you expect a hike? 

Business often picks pace during Ramadan and peaks in the period nearing Eid, and we remain hopeful of the period heralding a new wave of innovation and growth for the payments industry, well beyond Q2.

The UAE economy has time and again displayed a unique resilience to withstand global shocks. We have been seeing this right from the early days of the pandemic in 2020, and now is no different. The vaccination drive is going on successfully and safety measures are in place for businesses and people to resume normal activity. In line with recent trends, we expect the environment for business to see further improvement in the coming days, and this will have a cumulative effect on confidence among the expat population.

We have lined up several new offerings to suit the expected growth in the sector and plan to make available financial services for retail and corporate customers, in the coming weeks. Trade-based remittances are also expected to see a surge in the coming days, with the economy showing positive indicators of recovery. Additionally, restarting international travel is key to getting the banknotes business up and running, and with Expo 2020 scheduled to open doors for travel soon, we foresee Q2 as a precursor of better days ahead. 

In the coming weeks, we will also be launching a revolutionary new version of the LuLu Money app, that will greatly enhance the customer experience of doing digital transactions, while taking the functionality aspect several notches higher. We also plan to launch our prepaid multi-currency travel card in Q2. We are building a healthy proposition around our focus areas of trade remittances and corporate & HNI customers, while continuing to grow our core strength of cross-border payments. The aim is to use the positive growth period of Ramadan to add value for our WPS consumers and help our team build fruitful relationships that deliver equitable value to stakeholders of both ends of the payments spectrum.

What are the main factors that are affecting your top send countries and why?

The UAE remains our top send country, with the top receiving countries being India, Philippines, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh.

The repercussions of the ongoing pandemic have led to shifting of labor camp accommodations to new locations, as well as job losses of expats hailing from the above countries, which have affected the outward remittance volume in varying ways. The situation is improving day by day, and with the UAE economy offering glimpses of a rapid recovery, we expect more expats to return, and effect an eventual return to normalcy of the payments sector in the coming months. 

What are your expectations from the remittances this year during Ramadan & Eid? ? Especially after a year of Corona do you expect a hike? 

Business often picks pace during Ramadan and peaks in the period nearing Eid, and we remain hopeful of the period heralding a new wave of innovation and growth for the payments industry, well beyond Q2.

The UAE economy has time and again displayed a unique resilience to withstand global shocks. We have been seeing this right from the early days of the pandemic in 2020, and now is no different. The vaccination drive is going on successfully and safety measures are in place for businesses and people to resume normal activity. In line with recent trends, we expect the environment for business to see further improvement in the coming days, and this will have a cumulative effect on confidence among the expat population.

We have lined up several new offerings to suit the expected growth in the sector and plan to make available financial services for retail and corporate customers, in the coming weeks. Trade-based remittances are also expected to see a surge in the coming days, with the economy showing positive indicators of recovery. Additionally, restarting international travel is key to getting the banknotes business up and running, and with Expo 2020 scheduled to open doors for travel soon, we foresee Q2 as a precursor of better days ahead. 

In the coming weeks, we will also be launching a revolutionary new version of the LuLu Money app, that will greatly enhance the customer experience of doing digital transactions, while taking the functionality aspect several notches higher. We also plan to launch our prepaid multi-currency travel card in Q2. We are building a healthy proposition around our focus areas of trade remittances and corporate & HNI customers, while continuing to grow our core strength of cross-border payments. The aim is to use the positive growth period of Ramadan to add value for our WPS consumers and help our team build fruitful relationships that deliver equitable value to stakeholders of both ends of the payments spectrum.

What are the main factors that are affecting your top send countries and why?

The UAE remains our top send country, with the top receiving countries being India, Philippines, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh.

The repercussions of the ongoing pandemic have led to shifting of labor camp accommodations to new locations, as well as job losses of expats hailing from the above countries, which have affected the outward remittance volume in varying ways. The situation is improving day by day, and with the UAE economy offering glimpses of a rapid recovery, we expect more expats to return, and effect an eventual return to normalcy of the payments sector in the coming months.