Users are increasingly turning away from traditional money remittance services in favor of mobile phone money remitters when sending funds to Fiji. This significant shift is highlighted in the Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU) 2023 annual report, which was presented in Parliament on September 2, 2024, by Attorney-General Graham Leung.
As Fiji’s anti-money laundering agency, the FIU monitors and records all financial transactions conducted through 172 financial institutions across various sectors, including commercial banks, mobile companies, accounting firms, legal practices, money lenders, real estate agents, and insurance firms. By 2023, the FIU had accumulated over 30 million transactions in its database.
The transactions that involve money sent to and from Fiji are categorized as Electronic Fund Transfer Reports (EFTRs). The report shows that while the total number of EFTRs rose significantly from 1.5 million in 2019 to 3.5 million in 2023, there has been a marked decline in the use of traditional money remittance providers. Their share dropped from 71 percent in 2019 to just 26 percent in 2023.
In contrast, remittances through mobile phones experienced a dramatic surge, increasing from 4 percent of total EFTRs in 2019 to over 60 percent in 2023. The FIU attributed this growth to the rising consumer demand for mobile money wallets, which are viewed as a more convenient and cost-effective option for sending money to Fiji.
Inward remittances made up the majority of total EFTRs at 92 percent, with 47 percent coming from Australia, 19 percent from the United States, 18 percent from New Zealand, 8 percent from the United Kingdom, and 2 percent from Canada. Outward remittances primarily went to Australia (22 percent), New Zealand (17 percent), the United States (7 percent), India (7 percent), and China (4 percent), according to the FIU.