Cash Pick-Up Deal With Ria Brings PayPal’s Xoom to 60 More Countries

Xoom, the online money-transfer service that PayPal Holdings Inc. acquired in 2015, will enter 60 more countries and expand in 26 more under a deal announced Tuesday with Euronet Worldwide Inc.’s Ria money-transfer subsidiary.

The pact enables Xoom payment recipients to pick up cash transfers from senders, most of whom are in the U.S., at 150,000 Ria locations. The largest of the new countries is Russia, but the deal also opens up such Eastern European nations as Ukraine, Belarus, and Serbia to Xoom for the first time, in addition to many nations in Africa and Asia. Xoom also will enter Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands under the pact.

In addition, 14 countries already served by Xoom will be getting cash pick-up capabilities through Ria, including Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Egypt, and Indonesia. Another dozen countries that already have Xoom cash pick-ups will see expanded service through Ria. They include Mexico, Chile, India, and Vietnam.

“Through this partnership, Xoom will now offer service from the U.S. to more than 130 markets, reaching 70% of countries globally,” a Xoom spokesperson says by email, adding that the announcement represents an expansion of an existing relationship between PayPal and Euronet. “This includes bringing Xoom’s service to 60 completely new countries, and a significant expansion in Eastern Europe and Africa.”

Citing a news report, the spokesperson calls the African expansion “especially impactful” because “half of all mobile-money services in use today are based somewhere in Africa.”

Julian King, Xoom’s vice president and general manager, said in a news release that many countries where Xoom is expanding “have limited access to digital remittance services.”

Revenue arrangements between Xoom and Ria were not disclosed. 

San Jose, Calif.-based PayPal does not disclose Xoom’s payment volumes. The spokesperson says some of Xoom’s leading send corridors are U.S. to Mexico, India, and the Philippines.

Leawood, Kan.-based Euronet is one of the world’s largest money-transfer providers through Ria, which has an agreement to provide domestic transfers to Walmart Inc. customers, and its other consumer-to-consumer brands, AFEX Money Express and IME. Euronet had 355,000 money-transfer service locations globally as of June 30, up 10% from 324,000 a year earlier, the company reported in July. Second-quarter transactions, which include transactions through Euronet’s HiFX and xe account-to-account brands, totaled 26.9 million, an 18% increase from 22.9 million a year earlier.

A Euronet spokesperson did not respond to a Digital Transactions News inquiry.