In a bid to bring their secure money services to millions of migrant workers in the UAE, Hubpay has announced that it is launching new top-up methods that allow customers without a bank account to add money to their Hubpay accounts. Hubpay’s international mobile app enables customers to make secure cross-border payments with great exchange rates from the convenience of a smartphone.

Hubpay has been driving digital innovation in the UAE’s financial services sector for the last three years. As the first company to get licensed for digital money services in the UAE, Hubpay introduced rapid and fully digital account opening along with the ability to securely link and make payments from bank accounts with the Hubpay mobile app.

“Since our customers can do everything through the mobile app from opening an account to making payments, we do not need to have physical stores. Our excellent support team is always available on email or over the phone and we have many pop-up events where customers can meet us face-to-face. By reducing our overhead costs, we are able to pass on savings to our customers by offering low transfer fees and great rates,” says Maja van Paridon, Hubpay COO.

One of the greatest catalysts for the remittance market during COVID-19 pandemic was the accelerated adoption of digital technology by migrant workers and their families. Mobile remittances alone increased 65% during 2020*. Hubpay’s new top-up methods bring the benefits of secure and affordable digital remittances to migrant workers in the UAE.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015 as part of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, includes the “under 3%” target for the cost of migrant remittances*. By saving on the cost of remittances with Hubpay, migrants and their families have more opportunities to channel money toward long-term needs and investments.

Van Paridon continues, “We have built a portfolio of trusted partners that embrace innovation and enable us to offer great services to our customers. We are now enabling new low-cost top-up methods so that customers without access to online banking can access our secure remittances by linking their cards to our mobile app.”

The importance of digital remittances cannot be underestimated for communities globally. Around one billion people are directly impacted by remittances around the world – the majority of these payments take care of essential needs like housing, food, education and medical expenses for families back home. According to the United Nations Development Programme, remittances to low and middle-income countries reached US$558 billion in 2020 and $605 billion in 2021 – vastly exceeding official development assistance*.

Hubpay launched its mobile App in 2020 and was one of the first in the United Arab Emirates to have an innovative, fully-digital account opening process. With the Hubpay App, customers can conveniently open an account and safely remit money to India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Bangladesh within minutes. Building on the success of the company’s remittance mobile App, Hubpay recently expanded remittances from the UAE to over 40 additional countries including the UK, Canada, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Nepal, Indonesia, and countries across the EU.