Introduction to the Different Types of International Money Transactions
Most of us know very little about how the financial system works at the meanwhile we are highly dependent on it. When you receive the monthly salary, when you use the bank card to pay for the bill, when you send the money to others, it’s all about the transaction fashion. The user experiences fantastically influence and push the revolution of financial system. It’s hard to categorize but we still have some clues to observe the system into three historical stages: physical institution, digital service, and invisible currency.
Traditional Bank Service
There are three major ways to use the traditional bank services.
The first one is wire transfer. You can send the money to more than 150 countries by over 40 types of currencies. Without doubtfully, it’s a safe way to send your money around the world though it’s slower with the various commission fees. Moreover, for the virgin user, he/she has to open the foreign currency account by the assigned bank and activate it. It takes more times for preparation to wire the international funds.
The second way is through Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). SEPA is the European Union payment integration which aims to simplify the wire transfer in the Euro countries. Due to the same currency and the cooperated financial system, this is the cheapest way to send the money between 28 EU member states, 4 countries from European Free Trade Association, and 2 microstates who signed the agreements with SEPA. That is to say, you must have the bank account in these euro-zone countries and also it only accepts Euro.
Thirdly, it’s the checks. Checks are usually applied for bills or payment since the design is friendly to be used. When you want to send the money to someone domestically or internationally, only do you send via post or the bank, and the receiver can easily deposit based the due date of the check. However, it can be slower and more additional service fees come. Both sender and receiver sides may be charged with the commission. The checks deposits into the receiver’s account may also take few work days.
Of course, the bank system is more reliable but its slowness and red-tape progress also make the users being “kidnapped.” The weakness of the traditional bank system is vulnerable when facing the challenges from the digital technology. Time-consuming and high exchange rates push the traditional bank stepping into online service system.
- Digital Financial Service
Online transaction becomes more popular than before since the senders do not need to go the physical banks and wait for few hours to only make one transaction. There are also three major ways to send the capital by internet. The first one is the traditional bank system which starts to use online banking.
The second one is by the third-party agencies, such as, Transferwise, Worldremit, Winngie, and XE. Each similar but different. They function as bank but it is not. The mainly concept is to work without banks and return the transaction right back to the customers.
The third one links together with the online shopping platform with speed payment which later evolves into the convenient payment method. The classical examples are WeChat pay, Alipay, and PayPal. Taking PayPal as example, PayPal is spawned from the simple concept which allows the users to transfer the funding through online to facilitate the e-shopping payment. This smart idea attracts million members to enjoy this encryption software. People use it to link together with eBay or other online shopping website, do donations, and exchange money with others. Same with the traditional bank system, PayPal users both are required to open the accounts under the PayPal system otherwise the other side cannot receive or send the funding. Unlike the bank system, PayPal are free with basic usage, and you don’t need to submit mountains of document to register the new account. The weakness of PayPal system is highly exposure to be frauds, unfair high transfer fees, and dependent of internet.
The disadvantages of the digital financial fashion are undermined by cybercrime and low-control of financial risk. Many small-scale banks may lack capacity to enhance cybersecurity. Also, when it is easy to facilitate the financial flow, excessive borrowings and debt occur.
- Digital Currency
Some say digital currency is a Ponzi scheme. Some say cryptocurrency has already died and resurrected over 100 times during past half decade. Whether the world likes or criticizes it, there is no doubt that cryptocurrency has successfully attracted people’s attention. Blockchain decentralized character makes the users transfer digital currency faster and easier. There is no single location, no holiday and no central authority in between. It is peer-to-peer basis. It means that cryptocurrency returns the transferred right back to its users without time boundary and location barriers.
Unreliable emerging ICOs, small new currency, and cybercrime may crowd the market. Due to its consensus-based network, it is hard to have universal rules to supervise digital currency. Low-trust operation, virtual assets, and zero tolerate to fix the typo after transferred.
You cannot see your money in reality.
From bank-to-bank service to peer-to-peer basis, the financial world seems never tried seeking a better way for exchange. It not only exchanges the money but also exchange trust. It is also never tried to blow another trend. The trend you cannot repeat. The trend it will rock the old system. Winngie Exchange Money App and some others similar ways are trying to overcome these problems to make life easier.
Winngie Editorial Department
13:04 Wednesday 21 November 2018