Flywire’s International Payment and Receivables Business Thrives in Japan

Strong growth part of expansion across Asia-Pacific region 

Flywire, a leading provider of international payment and receivables solutions for businesses, schools and healthcare providers, is reporting strong growth in the Japanese education market. Since launching its service in Japan in April 2016, the company has achieved important milestones across multiple metrics including the number of schools deploying the service and the amount of money moved.

Flywire serves both schools recruiting international students, as well as students traveling outside their home countries to study around the world. Founded in 2011, the company has processed over $5 billion in educational payments and established its platform as the preferred solution for international payments and receivables processing. Educational institutions use it to offer students and their families a highly-tailored, international payment experience – customized by country, currency and institution. In addition, school financial and operations teams benefit from streamlined reconciliation and easy tracking of international payments.

Since entering the Japanese market in April 2016, Flywire has:

  • Signed on more than 90 schools in Japan to use its global payment processing platform including Yamanashi Gakuin University, Globis University Graduate School of Management, Kumamoto Gakuen University, Chuo College of Technology, eight (8) YMCA Vocational Schools, Kyoshin Group Schools, Meiko Network Group Schools, Sendagaya Japanese Language School, Arc Academy, and Akamonkai Japanese Language Schools.
  • Moved approximately $60 million on behalf of Japanese schools and students.

Recruiting international students is an important initiative in Japan. Government agencies such as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) are working actively with the country’s education institutions to appeal to more international students. That effort is producing big results according to the Japanese Student Support Organization (JASSO):

  • The number of international students studying in Japan grew nearly 10% in 2015 and 15% in 2016.
  • In 2016, there were a total of 239,287 international students enrolled in Japanese schools.
  • Higher education institutions accounted for 171,122 of those international students, up 12.5%.
  • Japanese language institutes accounted for 68,165, up 21.0%.

Japan is also an important source market for international students. After recent declines in the number of Japanese studying abroad, Japanese students are showing strong interest in international education.

“International education is thriving in Japan, and it’s one of the key countries in our expansion in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Mike Massaro, CEO at Flywire. “We have an outstanding team in place focused on serving the needs of both educational institutions and students to make the cross-border payment and receivable process easy, efficient and transparent for all involved.”

Flywire is a leading provider of international payment solutions, connecting businesses and institutions with their customers on six continents. Introduced six years ago as a way for international students to pay their tuition for studies abroad, Flywire is now used by over 1,300 organizations across 18 countries around the world. The company processes billions in payments per year from 220 countries and territories, via bank transfer, credit card and e-wallet solutions, in over 120 different local currencies. Convenient, fast and secure, Flywire’s scalable platform provides currency conversion at exchange rates that can offer significant savings when compared to home-market banks and credit card providers. The company also supports its clients with end-to-end customer support including multilingual servicing via phone, email, and chat, as well as 24/7 online payment tracking.

Flywire is headquartered in Boston, MA with international operations in London and Manchester, UK; Shanghai, China; Tokyo, Japan; Singapore; Sydney, Australia; and Valencia, Spain. For more information, visit www.Flywire.com