TrueMoney Transfer is Thailand's first affordable remittance solution for migrant workers

TrueMoney Transfer is Thailand’s first affordable remittance solution for migrant workers

October 15, 2016

TrueMoney, a subsidiary of Ascend Group, announces the launch of TrueMoney Myanmar and the launch of its fund transfer solution, TrueMoney Transfer.

TrueMoney Myanmar aims to be a leading financial service provider, offering bill payment, mobile topup, remittance, and cash collection services. With two offices, one in Yangon and one in Mandalay and a network of 3,000 agents nationwide, TrueMoney Myanmar is working continuously to expand its services and agent network to fulfill its mission of enabling everyone access to innovative financial services, leading to better lives because we believe that financial access should be a basic right for everyone.

TrueMoney is also launching TrueMoney Transfer, the company’s first international money transfer solution. Fast, easy, safe, and affordable, TrueMoney Transfer enables real-time fund transfers from Thailand to Myanmar, allowing Burmese migrant workers to significantly reduce the expense and risks associated with sending money to family back home.

Fast with real-time fund transfers, easy with 250 transfer spots in Thailand by end-2016 and 681 transfer spots in Myanmar, safe with a passcode to receive the money that only the sender knows, and affordable with transaction fees starting at 50 Baht. To celebrate the launch of the TrueMoney Transfer service, TrueMoney is waiving the transfer fees for all transactions until October 31, 2016. Transfer fees usually start at only 1,818 MMK per transaction.

Migration within and across Myanmar’s long borderline has been long-standing. In an aim of improving relatives’ standard of living, many Burmese have chosen to cross borders in search of decent work and income. To date, according to the United Nations (UN), Thailand is home of almost 2 million hard working Burmese sending 2,8 billion Kyat back home annually, namely 1 million Kyat per person per year.

“Transferring money to loved ones has undoubtedly become a crucial need for Burmese migrants and their families. However, a large number of Myanmar workers remain unbanked, due to a variety of reasons such as, but not limited to legal status, language barrier, and access to banking services. We have developed TrueMoney Transfer to give a faster, safer, more secured and affordable alternative to the commonly used informal channels”, said Ms. San Thaw Da Wun, Country Director of TrueMoney Myanmar.

Indeed, sending money from Thailand to Myanmar can be very expensive and uncertain. Because no other options are available to date, Myanmar migrant workers are placing their trust and savings within informal networks, which are complicated, time-consuming – it can take up to 4/5 days to send funds –, and unsafe – there is no guarantee that the intended receiver will ever receive the money.

Mr. Lawt Aung, Senior Product Executive of TrueMoney said, “TrueMoney Transfer will deeply change the lives of millions of hard-working people who do not have access to proper banking services. The network we have built throughout Myanmar is the stronger existing. Our 681 TrueMoney Transfer spots in Myanmar cover 91 percent of migrant workers’ hometowns such as Mon, Tarintharyi, Kayin, Shan, Yangon, and Bago, bringing services for money transfer in rural areas where banks don’t even have a representation. The solution will enable money transfer from Thailand to Myanmar only. By end of 2016, the 250 transfer spots in Thailand will be concentrated in areas with a large population of Myanmar migrant workers such as Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakarn, Tak, Ranong, Kanchanaburi, and Phuket.”

Ms. San Thaw Da Wun added, “It has never been that simple to transfer money internationally”.

Users can simply register a user account at one of TrueMoney’s official agent shops in Thailand, show their ID, and instantly transfer funds to Myanmar. After informing the agent of the receiver’s name and mobile number and the amount to be transferred, the sender will be told the exact amount the receiver will receive. The sender will also receive an 8-digit code via SMS. The receiver can immediately use the given code, in addition to their identification and mobile phone number, to receive cash at any of the TrueMoney Transfer spots in Myanmar.

TrueMoney has developed this new innovation to offer a cross-border remittance service that is fast, easy, safe, and affordable to upgrade the standard of living of everyone.

TrueMoney Transfer – Fact Sheet

TrueMoney – Key information
About TrueMoney Thailand Company	TrueMoney is an Ascend Group subsidiary and the first e–payment provider in Thailand that has been granted a license from the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Thailand to offer cross-border remittance service
About TrueMoney Transfer solution	TrueMoney has been developing the TrueMoney Transfer solution to help unbanked individuals as well as migrant workers to safely send money to their loved ones and to give them an alternative to costly and unsecured informal money transfer solutions
Key information about TrueMoney Transfer	TrueMoney Transfer, Thailand’s first fast, easy, safe, and affordable remittance solution for migrant workers With 250 TrueMoney Transfer spots in Thailand by end- 2016 and 681 in Myanmar, a very affordable cost as well as no fee applied for receiving money, this is the most accessible platform available to date You can transfer up to 30,000 Baht per transaction and up to 200,000 Baht per day The transfer fee is waived until October 31, 2016 (normally 50 Baht for 100-5,000 Baht transferred) TrueMoney Transfer is available for individual customers only
Process to set–up an account	To use TrueMoney Transfer simply register for the service by showing your ID and mobile phone number at one of TrueMoney’s official agent shop. This process is one time will take just a few minutes. Then, you’ll need to give the receiver’s details and mobile phone number before handing over the money you wish to transfer. The TrueMoney Transfer officer will let you know exactly how much money the receiver will get in the destination currency. You will then get an 8–digit transaction code via SMS to your registered mobile phone number. The receiver simply need to show the 8–digit transaction code, ID, and their mobile phone number to any TrueMoney Transfer spot in Myanmar to get the cash right away.
Target users	Unbanked individuals and migrant workers who wants to transfer money back to Myanmar

Transaction fee (Conditions as stipulated by the company)
Remittances from 100 Baht to 5,000 Baht	Transaction fee at 50 Baht
Remittances from 5,001 Baht to 10,000 Baht	Transaction fee at 100 Baht
Remittances from 10,001 Baht to 15,000 Baht	Transaction fee at 150 Baht
Remittances from 15,001 Baht to 20,000 Baht	Transaction fee at 200 Baht
Remittances from 20,001 Baht to 25,000 Baht	Transaction fee at 250 Baht
Remittances from 25,001 Baht to 30,000 Baht	Transaction fee at 300 Baht

TrueMoney Transfer’s user profile Myanmar migrant workers – Key data
Number of Myanmar workers in Thailand to date	2 million workers, 50% non–registered
Gender	57% male 43% female
Age	16–24: 21% 25–34: 52% 35–55: 27%
Location	Bangkok Outskirts: 38% South: 27% North: 16% Central: 13% Bangkok: 6%
Occupation	Fishing worker, Farm worker, Factory worker, Rubber worker, Construction worker, Housekeeper

Myanmar’s remittance market
Average number of fund transfers per individual per year	6 times a year
Average amount sent per transfer per individual	6,650 THB
Total number of transactions per year	12 million THB
Total amount of money transferred per year	77 billion THB