David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Xoom, PayPal’s international transfer service, has launched Debit Card Deposit, which allows Xoom customers in the U.S. to make remittance payments directly to Visa debit cards in more than two dozen countries. The feature will support instant access to funds, a much shorter window than international wire transfers, which can take as much as five business days to settle. The initial markets include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, the U.K., Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Lithuania, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam — with additional countries scheduled to come on board later in 2023. PayPal acquired Xoom in 2015. Xoom’s network includes more than 160 countries. Remittances grew 5% to more than $626 billion in 2022, according to the World Bank. — John Adams