Visa and CIBC have announced a new partnership that will allow the bank’s customers to send funds to family and friends across borders more conveniently.
Thanks to Visa Direct’s innovative money-handling capabilities, CIBC and Simplii customers will soon be able to send money to a new range of digital wallets to key remittance destinations, including the Philippines, China, Bangladesh and Kenya, where they are the primary method for people to pay and get paid. The new feature will be available early this year.
Driven by rapidly changing consumer demands, digital wallets are among the world’s fastest-growing financial instruments, with global numbers expected to exceed 5.2 billion by 2026. Especially for the unbanked in emerging markets, digital wallets serve as a valuable gateway to the financial system.
This announcement builds on the companies’ previous partnership that enables CIBC and Simplii customers to use Visa Direct-enabled cross-border person-to-person (P2P) and business-to-consumer (B2C) payments through CIBC and Simplii’s Global Money Transfer service .
“Visa Direct enables consumers and businesses to send money cross-border with ease, and we’re excited to partner with industry leaders like CIBC and Simplii to provide even more remittance options to their customers,” said Sam Fuda, Vice President and Head of Commercial Department. and Money Movement Solutions, Visa Canada. “Together, we are working to break down the barriers of cross-border money movement to improve speed, transparency and accessibility for both sender and receiver.”
“Sending foreign currency has become an increasingly important part of many Canadians’ daily banking needs – a trend we expect to continue for years to come,” said Jimmy Dinh, Managing Director, Direct Financial Services, CIBC Capital Markets. “Listening to our customers and working closely with Visa will help us further build our unique, fee-free cross-border payments platform available with the rest of their banking services.”