Bless Payments revolutionising international money transfers

This article was published by AMUST on 29 July 2024. Click here to read the article.

A new global money transfer app developed in Perth takes the prejudice and hassle out of international money transfers, allowing people to send money to family and friends quickly without high fees to countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including to Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, with more in the process of being added, including Lebanon and the UAE.

Created by Pakistani and Egyptian migrants Affy Bhatti, former Deloitte Principal and Mo Zaatar, former Telstra Purple software engineer, the Bless Payments app removes the bias against developing countries created by the Basel index, a ranking system out of Switzerland that decides which countries are riskier – and therefore more expensive – to transfer money to.

As it stands, there is a huge disparity in the cost of remitting money overseas to friends and family – send $500 to the UK and it will cost you $2.93, but send the same amount to Pakistan, it will cost you $4.22; $6.38 to Vietnam; $7.13 to Egypt; $11.17 to South Africa and a whopping $12.75 to Botswana.

Bless Payments gives all migrants a fair chance to send money home to their families – one of the major reasons many people migrate to ‘the lucky country’

How it works

Using Bless Payments is as simple as creating an account, adding your recipient’s details, the amount you want to send them, and transferring your money. The app instantly highlights the exchange rates and transfer fees and compares against 11 other competitors, making all transactions completely transparent. It’s also translated into 12 languages, including Urdu, Bengali, Arabic and Hindi.

“Our customers send money to people, not countries,” Bless Payments Co-Creator Affy Bhatti said.

“We’re levelling the playing field, one payment at a time. We’re also giving migrants peace of mind that their payments are reaching their families safely and securely.”

Why its needed

“When money is sent abroad, your average money transfer company thinks of currency pairs and exchange rates. The migrant, however, thinks first about their mother, father or close relative they’re supporting, and how it will improve their lives. And so do we,” Affy said.

A money transfer from a migrant to their home country is more than just a remittance. It can uplift their entire family, supporting vital home repairs or daily essentials, lending a hand in the surprises and challenges of life or making a holiday or a wedding more special.

As well as the inequitable cost of sending money to developed, developing and underdeveloped countries, the Bless Payments app also seeks to allow customers to send money to currently unserved countries where migrants face the distress of not being able to send money at all – their only option being shadow channels.

“We believe every migrant deserves the opportunity to be able to look after their families back home and Bless Payments was created to do just that,” Affy said.

Indonesian migrant Aisha Novakovich said Bless Payments has changed her family’s life for the better.

“The exchange rate for the big banks was always horrible,” Aisha said.

“Not only would they take a massive cut, which was painful enough, they would also take five working days to make the transfer. It was an insulting level of service.

“I now have one fewer thing to worry about. It’s not a little thing, either. Whether you’re talking about family or business, removing the hurdles to transferring money overseas is life-changing.”