The future of financial access took center stage at this year’s Milken Institute Global Conference, where Remitly CEO Matt Oppenheimer joined a cross section of finance and technology leaders to discuss how digital innovation is rapidly transforming financial access. The panel, “Money, Access, and Scale: The Evolution of Financial Technology,” focused on the urgent need to serve the 1.3 billion people still unbanked and many more excluded from full participation in the financial system due to high costs, limited infrastructure, or lack of formal identification.
For Remitly, expanding access to financial services starts with understanding our customers and building for their unique needs. “We saw firsthand how slow, expensive, and opaque traditional cross-border money transfers were,” said Oppenheimer. “And we knew our customers deserved better.”
From day one, Remitly invested in a digital-first approach to help our customers send money across borders quickly, affordably, and reliably. Today, our global footprint reaches over 170 countries and 5,200 corridors, offering payment and delivery methods that are tailored to local norms — from mobile wallets and cash pickup to bank deposits and home delivery. We support 18 languages, and offer customer support and app experiences designed to reflect the cultural and technical realities of the communities we serve – and these investments are delivering measurable outcomes.
In the first quarter of 2025 alone, we supported more than $16.1 billion in customer transactions — with >93% of transfers disbursing in under an hour1, and >95% without contacting customer support. We’ve also helped drive down the average cost of sending a remittance through our platform, passing millions of dollars of cost savings on to our customers.
But as Matt made clear, access on its own isn’t enough. “You can’t just build access, you have to build belief,” he said. “Trust is the foundation that makes financial tools usable, valuable, and impactful for our customers.”
That belief is earned through consistency and transparency. We’ve built a global payments platform that integrates with trusted partners, uses real-time delivery tracking, and embeds rigorous fraud prevention behind the scenes. It’s why millions of customers trust Remitly to deliver funds that often support critical needs — from medical bills to tuition to groceries.
“When someone sends money home, they’re not just completing a transaction; they’re keeping a promise,” said Oppenheimer. “Our job is to help them deliver on that promise, every time, and we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible.”
We’re excited to share more on the progress we’re making to deliver an exceptionally fast, reliable, and accessible payment experience. Stay tuned to the Remitly Newsroom for future articles or visit our Careers site to join us in shaping the future of cross-border payments.
1 Disbursement speed reflects the time between when Remitly has the customer funds and when the funds are successfully disbursed (e.g., completed or available for pickup.
