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DUBAI / Reuters
UAE Exchange Group, a global remittance and foreign exchange business, aims to spend between $250 million and $300 million on acquisitions to build its global market share, its chief executive said. The group aims to increase its share of the $575 billion global remittance industry to more than 10 percent by 2020, from 6.75 percent currently, Promoth Manghat said.
“The group is exploring multiple bolt-on acquisition opportunities as well as strategic investments in remittances and payments space with a specific focus on fintech (and) digital,†Manghat said.
Exchange houses and other traditional
payment processors such as banks are facing
a challenge from fintech companies, which
can increasingly transfer payments at more competitive rates.
UAE Exchange’s majority shareholders bought Travelex in January 2015 for 800 million pounds ($1.1 billion).
Manghat said UAE Exchange was working with unidentified boutique firms and banks
to advise it on two to three potential acquisitions in 2017. Global remittances to developing countries fell for a second year in a row in 2016 to $429 billion, a trend not seen in three decades, according to World Bank data, due in part to low oil prices and weak economic growth in the Gulf and Russia taking a toll on remittances to Asia.