The big public remittances companies’ run of ever-improving quarters following the pandemic dried up in Q3 2021, with a collection of results that have seen most growth rates slow. Market values across the sector have fallen alongside this decline.

Western Union, MoneyGram and Ria all had tougher quarters, mostly driven by weakened cash businesses as a result of the pandemic’s impact in Asia and some other countries. Q2 also had the benefit of lapping the weakest quarter of the pandemic from 2020.

Intermex, the only one of the four cash remittance players not to dip into negative growth during the pandemic, had a strong 26% revenue increase, albeit from a lower base. It attributes this to an omnichannel strategy that has seen it grow its digital offering while maintaining a strong focus on retail. 

Meanwhile, Remitly, which is a new entry on our quarterly chart following its recent IPO. It is still at a far younger stage, and so is seeing rates of growth that its incumbent competitors simply can’t match. This quarter saw it achieve 69% YoY growth, although in Q1 2021 it managed 98%. 

We’ll be looking closely at the Q4 numbers and will update you on them early in 2022. Meanwhile, the World Bank came out with some good overall news this week with 2021 and 2022 forecast to fare much better than originally anticipated. More on that below.

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Lucy Ingham

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Lucy is Head of Content & Editor-in-Chief at FXC Intelligence, overseeing all content and taking deep dives into the trends and data driving changes in payments. Before joining FXC Intelligence, Lucy worked as a technology journalist and editor, interviewing CEOs and major names across enterprise technology, including fintech. She has an MSc in Development Anthropology from Durham University.