India-born Rajesh Agrawal believes his Xendpay online platform will save customers in the developing world 60 pounds million over the next five years.
India is the largest recipient of remittances in the world, with USD 71 billion sent last year. World Bank figures show global migrants last year sent home 250 billion pounds in remittances to developing countries - with an eight per cent increase predicted for 2014.
"It is a social imperative that the cost of sending money abroad is significantly reduced," said Agrawal, who announced the launch here this week.
Under the Xendpay model, customers can send anything from 1 to 100,000 pounds and will be asked to "tip" what they want for the service - even if it's nothing - and will also be given the best exchange rates usually reserved for multinational corporations.
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"I set up Xendpay not to be the biggest or to make money but to make money transfer better and cheaper. I believe people will recognise the value in what we are doing both financially and socially and that as a result the discretionary 'tips' model will work," explains Agrawal.
Xendpay is part of the Rational Group of companies, which offers low-cost money transfer services which has made transfers worth over USD 5 billion of transfers since inception in 2005.