E-wallet provider Moolahgo users in S’pore can now transfer cash to China

Moolahgo’s wallet users here can top up their Weixin wallets and send money to bank accounts in mainland China via Weixin. PHOTO: MOOLAHGO.COM

SINGAPORE - Local fintech start-up Moolahgo has secured a partnership enabling its e-wallet users based here to transfer cash to their Weixin wallets in China, according to a Thursday announcement. Weixin is the Chinese version of WeChat.

The partnership with Tencent Financial Technology, which runs Weixin, allows Moolahgo’s users in Singapore to top up their Weixin wallets and send money to bank accounts in China via Weixin.

This can now be done with just the recipient’s name and mobile number, making cross-border payments to mainland China safer and quicker, without the need to provide traditional bank details, said Moolahgo founder and chief executive John Hakim.

The tie-up is expected to be most beneficial to the 200,000 Chinese citizens working in Singapore. “Besides being seamless and real-time, this service is, more importantly, safe and legally approved by China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange,” Mr Hakim added.

He said transfer fees between Moolahgo and Weixin will be around $8 per transaction, which is lower than the $20 or more charged by some other remittance providers for transfers between Singapore and China.

“This will benefit unbanked migrant workers here who in the past may have had to resort to unsafe money transfer services, resulting in issues such as frozen funds and bank accounts.”

Incorporated in Singapore in 2017, Moolahgo has been a major payment institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore under the new Payment Services Act since January 2020.

It is backed by Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group and aims to enable real-time money flows to those who do not have bank accounts in the region.

With more Chinese travellers and workers expected here after China reopened its borders, Moolahgo is expecting to secure about 500 million users for its Pay Now to Weixin service within the first year. Competition for the Singapore-China remittance market will be tough, particularly from the banks, which are trusted and more well-established service providers compared with e-wallets and fintech firms.

OCBC Bank’s head of digital business in Singapore Ng Lee Peng said: “Overseas funds transfers to China via digital banking have remained stable over the past two years with no significant changes in volume or transaction count.”

She added that cable and commission fees for OCBC customers are also waived.

Still, fintech players see more room for growth. Mr Atul Garg, founder and CEO of SingX, which runs a digital remittance mobile app, said: “As China opens up and simplifies some of the existing regulations, we see wallets and fintech firms accounting for a greater share of the pie.”

He noted several limitations to using formal remittance channels between Singapore and China, including caps on transaction amounts and unfavourable foreign exchange conversion rates.

Mr Ryan Gwee, founder and chairman of Aleta Planet, which provides direct remittance into Chinese bank accounts, said users based in Singapore often face uncertainty over the whereabouts of funds that they have remitted. 

There is also no certainty as to when the money will reach the recipient’s account in China, he said.

Mr Gwee noted that as new players emerge to provide similar remittance services to China, many are not authorised and approved by Chinese regulators, putting both senders’ and receivers’ funds at risk. 

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