Transfers abroad are perceived as safe but expensive
Foreign-born individuals are more likely to make transfers to private persons abroad than the Swedish population as a whole. The most common way of transferring money abroad is through the bank and most feel that transfers are quick and safe. However, the vast majority find it expensive.
Published: 14 March 2024
Private persons make cross-border payments when shopping while travelling abroad, buying things from abroad online, sending money to relatives in other countries and in many other situations. Companies and public authorities make cross-border payments when, for example, they buy equipment and services from abroad.
In this section, we take a deep dive into one particular type of cross-border payment - transfers to private persons abroad, often defined as remittances. Remittances are an important source of income for many countries, but statistics on their volume are often of low quality. This is described in the article Remittances - the overlooked payments. In order to improve statistics and increase the understanding of remittance flows from Sweden, the Riksbank has therefore conducted a survey on how foreign-born individuals send money to private persons abroad.
Riksbank’s survey on cross-border payments
The Riksbank’s survey on cross-border payments provides a picture of which countries private persons in Sweden send money to, how they send money and how they perceive it to work. Foreign-born persons tend to make more cross-border payments than the Swedish population as a whole, especially foreign-born persons in vulnerable areas. In the 2024 Payments Report, we present the results for the target group of foreign-born persons in vulnerable areas between 18 and 79 years of age. 306 people took part in the survey, 60 per cent of whom were born outside Europe. They were randomly recruited via text message and completed an online survey. The collection period for the survey was between 26 September and 16 October 2023 and this is the first time the Riksbank has conducted it. Figures from the survey can be found on the page The payment behaviour of the Swedish population.