MENA Remittance Intelligence | Notion

MENA Remittance Intelligence — Management 1-Pager

Date: Aug 2025

1 | Market Snapshot

KPI	Figure	Δ YoY	Comment
Total remittance inflows	USD 58 bn	+4 %	Top recipients: Egypt 29 bn, Morocco 11 bn, Lebanon 6 bn
Outbound remittances	≈ USD 125 bn¹	+3 %	Key senders: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait
Avg. cost on USD 200 (corridor-mix)	6.3 %	−0.1 pp	Digital: 4.0 % Banks: 12.7 %
High-impact fee breaches*	7 corridors	—	Above 7 % & > USD 1 bn volume

Fee > 7 % & Volume > USD 1 bn.

2 | Cost Hot-Spots

Corridor	2024 Vol	Avg. Fee (USD 200)	Pain Driver
US → Lebanon	USD 1.6 bn	12.9 %	De-risking, sanctions, low competition
Canada → Lebanon	0.4 bn	9.7 %	Minimum charges, cash payout focus
France → Morocco	4.0 bn	7.5 %	Bank monopoly, FX spread
Italy → Tunisia	1.2 bn	7.2 %	Cash agents, legacy rails
US → Egypt	3.5 bn	7.0 %	USD scarcity, correspondent fees

3 | Competitive Landscape

Traditional MTOs: Western Union (~20 – 25 % share), MoneyGram, Ria dominate cash pick-up routes.
Digital / hybrid challengers: Wise, Remitly, WorldRemit, stc Pay, UAE Exchange (Unimoni) gaining share on GCC lanes (fees ≈ 3 – 4 %).
Last-mile dominance: Cash agents (post & exchange houses) in Levant / Maghreb; bank accounts / mobile wallets in GCC recipients (Egypt, Pakistan).

4 | Regulatory & Web3 Readiness

Symbol	Jurisdictions	Notes
🟢 Full VASP / Travel-Rule	UAE, Bahrain	36 VARA licenses; Rain & CoinMENA under CBB
🟡 Transitional / sandbox	Oman, Turkey, Saudi Arabia	Draft laws, MASAK registration, KSA sandbox
🔴 No framework / bans	Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon	Advocacy or offshore pivots needed

5 | Strategic Opportunity for RemiDe

Attack high-cost lanes first: Prioritise US/CA → Lebanon and EU → North Africa to cut double-digit fees.