UAE: Free mobile remittance app 'temporarily' halts operation, expats surprised

A mobile remittance app that offers fast and free money transfers from the UAE to different parts of the world has temporarily paused operation, citing system upgrade as the reason for discontinuing services.

Taptap Send, described as an international peer-to-peer remittance company, has not been working for almost a week now — expats who are regular users of the remittance app informed Khaleej Times. The timing is bad, they said, as payday is near and expats are again preparing to send a part of their salary to their families and loved ones back home.

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When users opened the app, a notification popped up, saying: “Sending temporarily unavailable. We've temporarily paused transfers from the UAE while we upgrade our service. We look forward to resuming our low cost, fast transfer service as quickly as possible.”

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Khaleej Times reached out to Taptap Send on Wednesday for further clarification, but has yet to get a more elaborate statement.

“Customers prefer the said mobile remittance app for its zero transfer fees, competitive exchange rates, and fast transfer,” said Mohammed, 35, an Indian expat who works as a marketing executive in Dubai.

“I like the app because I can send multiple times in a month without thinking about the service charge. That’s why I was really surprised when I was not able to use it since Friday (October 17) last week,” he added, noting some of his friends also nuse Taptap Send to send money to India.

Taptap Send, founded in 2018 by Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus, was launched in the UAE in June 2023, as mobile banking and digital wallets have become more popular and convenient for the large expat community. It is also available in the UK,  US, Canada, Australia, and some European countries.

For Filipino expat Michael Ortega, the zero transfer fee is a big draw for him, as he sends money 2-3 times every month to his family in the Philippines. “When I go to remittance centres, they usually charge between Dh15 and Dh25 plus VAT. Mobile remittance apps, on the other hand, offer zero cost.”

Every dirham counts for expats like Ortega and sending money back home is a big business in the UAE as the country is the third-largest sender of remittances in the world, after the US and Saudi Arabia. Last year, Indian expats based in the UAE sent $21.6 billion to India, equivalent to 19.2 per cent of the total dollar inflows. In 2024, Filipino workers in the UAE sent approximately $1.52 billion in cash remittances to the Philippines, according to Statista.

Operational sustainability

The remittance market in the UAE is still dominated by traditional remittance companies and major banks. New entrants like Taptap Send offer zero remittance cost as part of their growth strategy, noted UAE-based financial coach Jay Adrian Tolentino.

This also means offering free money transfers can put a strain on operational sustainability.

Tolentino explained: “Remittance apps that don’t charge any transaction fees usually make money through FX spreads (difference between buying and selling rates when exchanging or trading currencies). Free transfers are often a growth strategy. But once they hit scale or face higher compliance and licensing costs (especially in the UAE, where regulations are strict), they’ll likely add minimal fees or adjust FX spreads to make their operations sustainable.”

“The competition in the remittance industry is very tough, so they need to be creative to stay afloat,” he added, noting: “Sustainable remittance businesses need either volume (meaning, more customers), funding, or small FX margins to survive.”

Tolentino also noted remittance apps are favourable for low-volume transfers — that is why they are popular among middle to low-income expatriates. “If transactions are bigger, banks offer a much competitive rate in most cases,” he added.

Meanwhile, this was not the first time this year that residents faced remittance issues. In July this year, some UAE residents had transactions that were delayed for days. The delay was caused by a technical glitch that happened on a busy weekend. Customers impacted were given cashback vouchers ranging from Dh20 to Dh60, and the company assured customers of enhanced safeguards to avoid recurrence of the incident.

Angel Tesorero

angel@khaleejtimes.com

Angel Tesorero is Assistant Editor and designated funny guy in the newsroom, but dead serious about writing on transport, labour migration, and environmental issues. He is a food lover too.