Azimo sets £1 rate for money transfers to Lithuania

Online money transfer service Azimo is setting a £1 flat rate for transfers to Lithuania as the country prepares to adopt the euro.

Lithuania is scheduled to adopt the euro on 1 January 2015. Azimo already charges a flat £1 fee to the Eurozone, meaning that the estimated 100,000 Lithuanians living in the UK will never again be hit with high fees on their money transfers.

According to the World Bank, Lithuanians living abroad sent US$1.387 billion back home in 2012, with over $200m being sent from the UK alone. Azimo’s new service means these hard-working migrants can now send money home to support their loved ones at a lower cost than ever before.

“We set up Azimo to use digital technology to lower the cost of sending money abroad,” said Michael Kent, CEO of Azimo. “We are delighted to be able to offer this new service to our Lithuanian customers. We know they are one of the most entrepreneurial and hard-working communities living in Britain and our new service will allow us to help these customers hold-on to more of their hard-earned cash”.

Azimo is just one of a slew of companies challenging banks and financial services such as Western Union for supremacy in the money transfer market. The company says it provides rates up to 85 per cent cheaper than high street banks and traditional money transfer providers, and a ‘market-beating’ exchange rate.

More than £3.1 billion is sent in remittance worldwide every year from 232 million people were living in a country different to country of their origin. In 2016, co-founder and head of operations Marta Krupinska predicts that remittances will rise to around £4.4 billion.

The Azimo service is available across the Eurozone, including UK, Ireland and Germany to any bank account in Lithuania

 

 

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