Over the past fifty years, cross-border money transfers have increased by 750%. This means that for one dollar transferred in 1973 - the year SWIFT, the world's leading operator for cross-border money transfers, was founded - in 2023, 750 dollars will be transferred. But this impressive growth in global money transfers has not been accompanied by any adaptation of the financial infrastructure, which even today, apart from minor improvements, is identical to that of 1973. And so international transfers are long, costly, operating only during the office hours of some time zone and not taking into account the under-banked, i.e. those who do not have a current account at all.

Looking at the data released by the World Bank, of the USD 735 billion transferred worldwide in 2021, a quarter of the entire sum was transferred to just three countries: India, Mexico and the Philippines. Paradoxically, those most in need of banking services, because they consume a quarter of all international transfers, are precisely the regions most afflicted by under-banking. In the three countries mentioned, in fact, according to the World Bank's Findex index, in the lower-middle-income segment, only 30% of the population over the age of 18 has a current account. Whereas in Europe, to give a term of comparison, almost eight out of ten adults have at least one bank account. This figure drops to 20% in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"Those 70 per cent of people who do not have a bank account," explains Aleo Christopher, CEO of iSwiss, "use everything from cryptocurrencies to rudimentary systems such as hawala or the very expensive money transfers, which can retain up to 30 per cent commission."

"For this reason, iSwiss Bank," continues Aleo, "is developing a multilingual platform, iSwiss Hello, designed specifically for residents of India, Mexico and the Philippines, which will enable transfers around the world, in more than 30 currencies, with a simple interface, in the local language, including dialects, and with fees of just a few cents."

"We are working on a network of iSwiss Points, where a partner can assist customers in carrying out financial transactions, issue payment cards and help them get identified and complete the anti-money laundering controls. To open an iSwiss point, all you need is a stool, a table, a PC and an internet connection, so you can reach places where no bank would ever open a branch".

"Offering fast, cheap, and easy payment services is the recipe for combating under-banking," Aleo concludes.