Growing Employment Opportunities and Rising Business Activities will Continue to Drive Remittance and Bill Payment Industry in UAE : Ken Research

Infrastructure developmental activities being undertaken by the government to increase job opportunities in the country.
Growing number of expatriates in UAE to augment growth in the international outbound remittance market.
Rising business activities in the field of construction, real estate, information technology and others are anticipated to stimulate growth in the market.
Increasing consumption of electricity, water, mobile phones and others are expected to stimulate growth in the bill payments market. Growing mobile wallet platform will lead to rise in penetration and user base with some initial customer acquisition cost.

The ever-growing remittance transaction volume in UAE is anticipated to escalate further in the coming years. Owing to the rising number of expatriate population in the country, the remittance outflow from the country is expected to grow manifold in the coming years. On these grounds, there is a growth in the demand for exchange houses in the country. Exchange houses such as Al Ansari Exchange, Al Fardan Exchange and others are in plans to geographically expand within the country. Banks have not been active players in the international remittance market in the past years, but the rising volume of remittance transactions has induced them to turn their attention towards the market in recent years. This trend is anticipated to intensify competition in the international remittance market. Infrastructure developmental projects linked to the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, expansion of airports, the Etihad rail, air and marine transport systems and road networks in the country are expected to increase job opportunities. It is expected to increase the internal migration rate and the inflow of expatriates leading to an increase in both domestic personal remittance and international remittance. Moreover, rising business activities in the non-oil private sector led by new projects, improvement in the economic conditions and the market demand is anticipated to augment the business to business remittances within the country.

The country’s gross domestic electricity consumption will reach 141 terawatt-hours in 2020 from 113 terawatt-hours in 2016. To reduce the consumption rate, the government is constantly increasing the energy prices augmenting the bill payments market. Moreover, the penetration rate of mobile phone and internet is expected to increase further thereby increasing the size of bill payments market

Ken Research in its latest study, UAE Remittance and Bill Payments Market Outlook to 2021, analyzed that the companies can encourage their customers to use digital modes of transfers to reduce the float time. The exchange houses can focus on mobile transfers to withstand the competition in the market. Moreover, the exchange houses and banks can offer door to door facilities, though the cost for the exchange houses may rise, there will be an increase in the number of customers.

The UAE remittance market is estimated to register a positive CAGR during 2017-2021. Future growth in the expatriate population, rising business activities and infrastructure developmental activities are expected to be key drivers for spiked demand for remittance in the country.

The report provides information on the remittance channel, mode of transfer, type of service, remittance corridor and type of bills dominating the market in terms of transaction volume. It also covers the major players in the market such as UAE Exchange, Al Ansari Exchange, Al Fardan Exchange, Sharaf Exchange, GCC exchange, Trriple and Payfort.

Topics Covered in The Report