Expats in the UAE, and other areas, will now be able to utilise a new mobile phone money transfer scheme, courtesy of Western Union and the mobile phone operator Etislat.
The new system will potentially be of great use to expats, as they will be able to send money overseas with minimal hassle.
Anyone who has a mobile phone with the provider Etislat will be able to use the service, and they will be able to send money to more than 200 different countries.
Expats who wish to use the service will have to create what has been dubbed a “virtual wallet” on their mobile devices. This will work as a top-up system and money stored in the virtual wallet can be transferred to another phone, a store, or an individual bank account.
Money transfers in general have increased in popularity over the last few years, especially as many developing countries have lacklustre banking systems, so expats from those areas often need alternative methods of sending money back home.
Worldwide remittances play a major part in the theatre of global economy, the International Organisation for Migration estimates that over £250 billion was sent around the world by expats in 2009.