（Original article in Japanese by Makoto Shibata was published for FinTech Journal on Aug. 12, 2026） https://www.sbbit.jp/article/fj/186371

The cross-border remittance market has grown to roughly $2 trillion. While traditional banks still process the vast majority of international funds due to entrenched trust, digital fintechs are disrupting the sector. In an interview, Sebastian Gunningham—new CEO of Remitly and former executive at Oracle, Amazon, Apple, and WeWork—shared his core evaluation criteria for fintech companies, structural industry trends, and Remitly’s expansion strategy in Japan.

1. Four Conditions for Evaluating a Winning Company

Before joining Remitly in early 2026, Gunningham evaluated the firm using four strict business criteria:

• Product Customer Love: Strong user experience and high app store ratings.
• Market Size: A massive, expanding addressable market (~$2 trillion in personal remittances alone).
• Moats/High Entry Barriers: A proprietary compliance framework, KYC/AML engine, and global licenses built over 10+ years that cannot be easily replicated.
• Strong Unit Economics: Margin improvement as operating scale expands.

2. Remitly’s Network and Growth Engines

Remitly currently operates across 170+ countries with over 5,000 corridors (aiming to add 1,000 more in 2026) and serves 10 million active users. Beyond individual-to-individual family remittances, Remitly is pursuing three major growth drivers:

• SMBs & Freelancers: Micro-businesses, sole proprietors, restaurant owners paying overseas staff, and digital content creators who find traditional bank transfers too complex and expensive.
• High-Value Remittances: High-earning immigrants (e.g., tech workers sending over $10,000 for overseas real estate, investments, or personal savings).
• Network-as-a-Service (NaaS): Partnering with traditional banks to process their cross-border payments on corridors banks cannot efficiently cover.

Additionally, Remitly is rolling out adjacent financial services (checking features, cards, and micro-loans earmarked strictly for remittance payments) to support underserved immigrant communities.

3. Four Megatrends Reshaping Global Finance

Gunningham identified four major macro shifts impacting fintech:

• Rise of Digital Banks: Neobanks providing services at 1/10th the cost of legacy incumbents.
• AI Accelerating Product Delivery: Rapid development speed where small teams could soon build bank prototypes over a weekend. While technical barriers are falling, regulatory barriers (KYC/AML) remain firm.
• Regulatory Divergence: While the US shifts toward deregulation and active bank licensing, much of the rest of the world (including Japan) is tightening compliance rules.
• Crypto and Stablecoins: High talent and capital inflow into blockchain rails.

4. Reality Check on Stablecoins

Despite the hype surrounding blockchain-based payments, Gunningham highlights three practical friction points:

• Cost Efficiency: Remitly’s existing infrastructure is cheaper than blockchain transactions on 90% of its 5,000 corridors.
• On-Ramp/Off-Ramp & Compliance: Beneficiaries ultimately require conversion into local fiat currencies (JPY, PHP, MXN), meaning compliance and local banking integrations remain unavoidable regardless of the underlying ledger.
• Government & Currency Sovereignty: Many governments oppose the dollarization of their domestic economies through private USD-backed stablecoins. Furthermore, compelling real-world use cases for “programmable money” are still lacking.

5. Japan Strategy & Market Entry

Having secured a Type II Fund Transfer Service Provider license in Japan, Remitly is targeting Japan’s growing 4 million foreign resident population (primarily from Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and South Korea) alongside Japanese digital creators.

• Growth Driver: Word-of-mouth recommendations within immigrant communities remain the single strongest customer acquisition tool, outperforming traditional advertising.
• Key Success Drivers: Leveraging strict global compliance standards, lower fees, speed, and seamless digital adoption as Japan shifts away from a cash-heavy economy.

Conclusion

The competition in cross-border payments has evolved beyond a simple race on transfer speeds or low fees. The ultimate winners will be determined by who controls the underlying global network, regulatory compliance stack, and institutional banking partnerships.