By Maria Serenade Sinurat, Ker Thao, Elwyn Panggabean
A visit to Samut Prakan, an industrial zone located 30 kilometers from Bangkok, offers a glimpse into the lives of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand. This town is one of Thailand’s economic zones that attract low-skilled, low-wage Cambodian migrants, particularly women, who work in sectors such as manufacturing and construction. These women live in 4×5 meter rooms in factory dormitories, often shared with a spouse or relative, where they sleep, cook, and eat. With daily wages ranging from 100-200 Thai Baht (USD2-5), they live paycheck to paycheck but still manage to send money back to their families.
For decades, migration and remittances have been crucial not only for Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand, but also for their families in rural Cambodia. These remittances support women’s dreams to provide better education and opportunities for their children. The ability to work, earn and manage income paves the way for financial independence for these women.
Digital remittances offer a way for women to improve their financial management skills while supporting families back home who are struggling with poverty. Women’s World Banking’s partnership with WING Bank to provide secure, fast, and affordable mobile remittance services is critical to supporting these aspirations.
“I have spent a decade in Thailand, far from my home in Cambodia. I want to return and start my own business one day, so every cent counts for this dream. But there was a time when I lost my money through an informal remittance channel. It just disappeared. I felt sad and helpless because I couldn’t get my money back.
That incident was a hard lesson in the importance of security in formal banking. Now, I use WING and 2C2P to send my money. Not only are they faster and more reliable, but I know my hard-earned money is well protected and the fees are reasonable.
I also tell my friends and colleagues about what I’ve experienced and urge them to switch. The process is easy, instant, and safe. Most importantly, my family receives the money immediately.” – Sreyna Chab, a Cambodian woman migrant worker in Thailand
The Challenge: A Huge Market with Low Use of Formal Remittance Channels
The story of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand is of critical economic importance, with approximately half of the 1.2 million workers being women from Cambodia’s poorest provinces who make a significant contribution to the labor force.
Migrant workers typically send between $100 and $200 per month to their families in Cambodia, primarily through informal remittance channels that carry risks of loss and delay. This flow of funds is vital to individual families and the broader economy.
Ensuring safe, fast, and affordable remittance channels is essential to empower migrant women to effectively manage their finances and meet family needs. Beyond simply transferring money, reliable remittance services empower workers to achieve long-term economic stability for their families and communities.
However, a significant challenge lies in the limited awareness and experience these women have with formal remittance channels. This gap represents a missed opportunity to increase the financial security and empowerment of workers, as well as for financial institutions seeking to serve this important market. In addition, financial service providers often lack gender-sensitive strategies and focus, limiting their ability to effectively target migrants and their families, many of whom are women.
Insights: The Need for Safe, Affordable, and Reliable Remittance Services
Our financial solutions have always been based on putting women at the center by listening to their voices. Women migrant workers have unique insights and experiences that can shape the success of the solution. We conducted in-depth customer research, followed by two-day workshops with women migrant workers and group leaders, who play a critical role in the community remittance process.
The customer research provides us with a better understanding of the profile and financial habits of migrant women workers while the workshops help us further understand the informal remittance process commonly used by migrant workers. Insights gained through this process revealed that:
- Women customers are already familiar with mobile banking applications but have little-to-no awareness of WING and its partner remittance channels. Women migrant workers also opt for a fast, secure and easy remittance service to send money back home. We found that WING’s fees are cheaper (by 51 THB ~1.5 USD cheaper) than those charged by informal channels, providing a competitive advantage. In terms of customer awareness, the Wing team plans to educate customers and agents about the benefits of formalizing transactions, while also incentivizing them to switch.
- Many respondents spoke of a “Central Line” system – a method they trusted to send money home. Central Line is an informal operator that helps transfer money across borders. While initially concerning, this discovery revealed a significant opportunity: to leverage the existing network and transform it into a formal remittance channel. Group leaders, who are already trusted individuals within the community, could play an important role in facilitating this transition by teaching others how to use Wing’s formal remittance services.
Solution: Leveraging social media and group leaders
The solution developed not only addresses the financial needs of Cambodian migrant workers, but also the various stages of their customer journey – from initial awareness to long-term retention.
- Financial literacy to raise awareness among remittance senders and recipients
Financial literacy programs aim to raise workers’ awareness of the risks of informal channels and the benefits of formal remittances. These educational initiatives serve as the first point of contact for many workers and underscore WING’s commitment to their financial well-being. These programs also target remittance recipients back in Cambodia, using WING agents as influencers for both senders and receivers, encouraging them to open formal accounts and learn more about financial services.
- Leverage group leaders at all stages
Group leaders, who sometimes serve as informal agents, play a pivotal role throughout this journey, driving awareness, supporting acquisition, encouraging activation, and helping to maintain retention. They are the trusted voices who amplify the WING message and help their peers navigate the formal referral process. By transforming informal agents into formal agents through training and attractive incentive programs, WING facilitates the acquisition of new users.
- Activation through incentive programs
Customized incentive programs are introduced to activate new customers and encourage them to take the first step in using WING’s remittance services. These incentives are financial and educational, ensuring that customers feel confident and competent in using the service. At this stage, group leaders are instrumental in helping their peers sign up for remittance accounts, providing guidance and support throughout the process.
- Retention through continuous social media engagement
The use of social media community channels allows WING to reach a broader audience by engaging prospects where they are already active and comfortable. Social media community channels also play a critical role in retention by providing ongoing support and fostering a sense of belonging among users. Regular updates, interactive sessions, and responsive communication on these platforms keep customers engaged and loyal to WING’s services.
Since February 2024, WING has been rolling out its remittance services through dynamic marketing channels, including Facebook groups, mobile apps, and bank agents in Thailand and Cambodia. To attract more workers, WING regularly shares engaging content highlighting exciting promotions, innovative features, and benefits such as free remittance transfers. The digital campaign has delivered impressive results, with the number of people reached and engaged increasing steadily through July. This growing engagement shows that customers are finding significant value in the services we offer.
The partnership between Women’s World Banking and WING Bank represents a leap forward in cross-border digital remittance services that can potentially transform women migrant’s lives. The solution addresses the unique needs and challenges of Cambodian migrant women, giving them the knowledge, tools, and confidence to thrive financially. As we reflect on the progress made, we see more than just improved remittance services; we also see the potential to make these services sustainable on a larger scale.
Learn more about the solution and our partnership with WING:
Women’s World Banking’s work with WING Bank is supported by the Impact-Linked Finance Fund funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). The views expressed in this publication are those of its authors. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of SDC and ADC.
