Remittances in Asia Pacific are becoming digital-first: Visa's Money Travels: 2025 Digital Remittances Adoption Report found that in six markets surveyed within the region, digital remittances are firmly the most used method to send and receive money across borders.
Why are digital remittances quickly gaining the edge over conventional cash-and-check? According to the report, digital remittances overcome several practical barriers associated with cash-and-check remittances, helping remitters save precious resources when they need to send and receive money from abroad. Second, digital remittances are more effective than cash-and-check remittances when it comes to addressing concerns around privacy, security, and fees.
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Digital remittances offer speed, convenience, ease of use
Speed, convenience, and ease of use are major factors for this shift. In the six Asia Pacific markets surveyed, more respondents indicated that cash-and-check remittances were either confusing, inconvenient to complete, required extensive travel or involved a higher difficulty in accessing a bank account, compared to digital remittances.
This may be traced to a growing variety of remittance use cases. Remitters in Asia Pacific are sending money overseas or receiving money from abroad for various reasons, from resolving family emergencies to gifting to funding personal investments.
These needs can arise intermittently, requiring a fast and convenient way to remit funds without having to make a trip to the bank. In addition, remitters may not always wish to use bank accounts to send or receive remittances. For example, sending a remittance as a gift may be best transferred to a digital wallet, making it easier for the loved ones to spend it at a merchant of their choice.
Digital remittances, especially digital apps, make it easier for remitters to send and receive money globally, often at a few taps of a finger. They increasingly also serve a wide variety of payment endpoints, be it a bank account, debit card, digital wallet, or other locations. This is especially so for apps integrated with Visa Direct, enabling them to potentially connect over 11 billion payment endpoints in over 195 countries and territories worldwide.
Digital apps are not only faster. They are safer too
Digital remittances have always had the edge over cash-and-check for convenience and speed. But it has taken time for remitters to appreciate the security of digital remittances.
Not anymore. According to the latest edition of Money Travels, respondents in all six Asia Pacific markets faced fewer issues related to security and privacy when using digital forms of remittances, compared to cash-and-check remittances.
Digital apps were also viewed as the most secure way to send and receive remittances in Asia Pacific, led by respondents in India (50% sending / 53% receiving), Australia (49%/45%), and Singapore (44%/42%).
Fees are a concern, especially hidden costs
In all six markets surveyed in Asia Pacific, high fees were noted as the top pain point for sending physical cash-based remittances, led by the Philippines (45%), followed by India (41%), Singapore (38%), and Australia (29%).
More importantly, hidden fees associated with physical cash-based remittances were also a sticking point. In all six markets, a significant proportion of respondents said they were advertised a free cash transfer, only to find out there were hidden fees in the form of higher than expected exchange rates, or unanticipated deductions on the receiving end. Those in Mainland China saw the highest incidence at 59 percent, followed by India (52%), the Philippines (51%), Singapore (46%), Australia (33%), and Japan (16%).
These concerns also spill over into digital remittances in the form of digital app fees. These were cited as a top pain point for respondents in the Philippines (43%), India (36%), and Singapore (32%).
As remittances become more important to how people stay connected across borders in Asia Pacific, the cost of sending and receiving money will be an important issue to address in the coming months and years. While digital remittances, especially via digital apps, bring new conveniences and benefits to remitters, deepening collaboration between the financial ecosystem, networks, and technology platforms could be key to delivering more value and transparency to remitters in Asia Pacific.