NFC to speed up currency exchange according to Currencies Direct

NFC to speed up currency exchange due to added security according to Currencies Direct

Currency Exchange can be expensive and take a lot of time, but the question being asked is whether NFC mobile wallets will speed up that process. Currencies Direct, a UK based non-bank currency exchange firm, think it will and they don’t mind saying why. We here at NFC Rumors have focused on a somewhat related part of the NFC payments ecosystem called remittance payments. This is where migrant workers or even just friends can send money from one another via their NFC smartphones by using a mobile wallet. These remote payments are expected to grow to a staggering $22.5 billion dollars by 2014, and no doubt Currencies Direct aims to be part of that lucrative new ecosystem. The process is near instantaneous and has been being used with SMS technology for years in Africa with the M-Pesa service.

This is probably where Currencies Direct do a large of their business too, along with business transactions. Of course, an important part of that transaction is currency exchange, which has traditionally been an expensive and time consuming endeavor. The experts at Currencies Directsay that is because payments are often “subject to delays in payments while transactions get authorised and confirmed by corresponding banking organizations.” However, the firm also feels that the better security built into mobile wallets allows this process to become more frictionless with a global trusted system emerging. Currencies Direct make their living from making the current system work a little faster with lower fees. We have seen how Visa wants to spread its NFC mobile wallet the world over. We have also seen MasterCard bring NFC payments to most countries on a global scale.

Google Wallet is threatening to reach out to multiple countries and Isis have declared interests internationally even though they are yet to get an NFC mobile wallet together here in the States. It isn’t only better security that will allow for faster currency exchanges, but the fact that our banking systems are becoming more ubiquitous and global by the day. Banks and firms like Currencies Direct are likely to put the risk on the card issuer, which means payments can all happen within a MasterCard or Visa ecosystem. We are already seeing MasterCard guarantee against payment fraud. That adds yet another level of security for foreign exchanges and an assurance to banks and independent currency exchange firms, like Currencies Direct, that simply hasn’t been available before.

Will currency exchange fees come down with NFC mobile wallet peer-to-peer transactions and will that cut firms like Currencies Direct out of the loop?

We will miss the bureau de change though when they have been decommissioned. However, what isn’t clear is whether using NFC mobile wallets will bring down costs of currency exchange. It should, because there will be far less middlemen in the process. But that doesn’t mean that is what will happen. We also ponder the thought that what will happen to firms like Currencies Direct? Is there still a market for their services, or will the new system bring about new opportunities and areas of business? What is sure is that the banking and private firm currency exchange business is about to go through an evolution. Currencies Direct sound pretty optimistic about the future.

Currencies Direct explains that telegraphic transfers represent the fastest, most secure method of transferring funds internationally. With the NFC mobile wallet due to become a far bigger part of consumers’ lives this year, we wonder how long the old fashioned, if not quick and safe, method will still be relevant when NFC mobile wallets are used to manage payments over mobile network operators’ internet services.

We hope that Currencies Direct are correct and that currency exchange becomes quicker and fees go down. This can only be good news for countries whose gross domestic product is based in outsourcing their skilled citizens and the money that they in turn send home. We know NFC is set to change many things in our lives, and perhaps now we may see services like Currencies Direct built straight into our mobile wallets or being used as standalone mobile wallets also.