Over 5,000 remitters are registered in Australia1 serving both consumers and businesses. Any business or organisation that facilitates the transfer of funds can be classed as a remitter, although when the term "remittance" is used, it most often refers to two particular use cases:
- People living abroad transferring funds to friends and family in their home countries, or
- Peer-to-peer (P2P) consumer international payments that are for expenses, for example paying fees for property or education.
Some remitters operating in Australia include Remitly, Wise, and Instarem. Globally, digital remittance is growing and is expected to reach a transaction value of US$273 billion by the end of 20252.
Alongside this market growth comes regulatory and technological change and challenges. There are many complex requirements for compliance in the industry, making it important to partner with the right providers who understand what’s required. Selecting a provider who continues to innovate with payments technology that scales with your transaction volumes ensures you’re set up for success today and in the future.
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Here are the trends we’re seeing for 2025 to 2026:
Trend 1: Real-time international funds transfers
Sending funds internationally is typically a slower process than domestic transfers. To improve this, the New Payments Platform (NPP) is introducing real-time payments for international transfers.
As a payments provider, Monoova will be the one of the first providers in Australia to offer this service to non-financial institutions. Get in touch if this is of interest to your business!
The G20 has set a goal3 for all payments to be sent in under a day by 2027, with a further goal for at least 75% of those payments to be transacted in under an hour. Introducing the International Payments System (IPS) for Australia in 2025 will contribute to that global goal.
Trend 2: Automated reconciliation in real time
Reconciliation is an essential task, and as the payment volumes increase so does the amount of reconciliation that needs to be done.
New, digital-first payments technology has enabled reconciliation to be automated in real time. Instead of waiting for the end of the month to reconcile payments in a batch, providers like Monoova offer automated reconciliation that happens as payments are made. This means at any given time, your reconciliation, cash position, and forecasts are accurate and up to date.
What’s more, with Monoova incorrect or incomplete payments are addressed automatically too. Set your own rules on how you'd like incorrect payments to be addressed, whether that’s automatically returning funds or notifying your team to address it quickly, and reduce administrative burden.
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Trend 3: The cost of remittance is declining
Just as remittance is becoming faster, it is also expected to become more cost-efficient in 2025. Several factors influence the cost of sending a remittance, including the corridor through which funds are sent, the underlying payment rail, and the profile of the sender and recipient. As the global financial ecosystem continues to innovate, each of these components is evolving – leading to more streamlined and economical processes.
Increased competition is also driving down fees, with a new wave of neobanks and fintechs challenging traditional financial institutions and reshaping pricing models in a bid to capture market share.
Research from the World Bank shows 90% of countries4 experienced a decrease in remittance costs. The research is tracking remittance costs as the UN has a target for remittance transaction costs to be under 3% of the transaction value.
Transaction costs are largely lowered through more efficient technology, such as the IPS that is being implemented in Australia.
Trend 4: Evolving regulation
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) made a recommendation for updates to a global standard known as “the Travel Rule”. The recommendation is to include certain data relating to domestic and international funds transfers so that transactions are more transparent.
In February of 2025, AUSTRAC, the regulator for financial crime in Australia, gave an update on a 12-month process of reviewing remitters5. The review acts as a reminder that remitters need to keep on top of compliance and select the right partners to help with this.
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Trend 5: Security and KYC
Cybersecurity threats are evolving as fast as the technology to counter them. A PwC report6 says 2024 saw a 20% increase in active exploitations and Australia experienced a record number of data breaches. It’s unlikely that this trend will reverse in 2025. The report quotes geopolitical conflicts, evolving cyber attack tactics, and misinformation as threats to look out for.
As a result, “know your customer” or KYC has become more stringent with many financial institutions and payment service providers (PSPs) lowering their risk appetite.
When looking for a payments provider, their security measures and the degree of compliance of their KYC processes are essential to evaluate before making a choice.
Monoova is ahead of the trends
Following trends isn’t enough when it comes to security, cost, and speed, you have to be ahead of them. Monoova customers benefit from our proactive participation in the Australian and international fintech ecosystems. We’re an award-winning payments provider with a network of partners and in-house experts, experienced in complex payment requirements.
You’ll be in good company – read Monoova’s case studies with Remitly, Wise, and Instarem.
See how Monoova works with remitters, or get in touch and speak with one of our experts.
1. https://www.austrac.gov.au/news-and-media/media-release/austrac-campaign-targets-remitters-and-digital-currency-exchanges
2. https://www.statista.com/outlook/fmo/digital-payments/digital-remittances/worldwide
3. https://www.fsb.org/work-of-the-fsb/financial-innovation-and-structural-change/cross-border-payments/g20-targets-for-enhancing-cross-border-payments-2
4. https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/the-cost-of-sending-remittances-is-higher-than-3--in-28-countrie
5. https://www.austrac.gov.au/news-and-media/media-release/austrac-campaign-targets-remitters-and-digital-currency-exchanges
7. https://www.pwc.com.au/digitalpulse/cyber-threats-2025-what-businesses-need-to-know.html
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