TransferWise Bids Farewell to Head of Asia-Pacific Expansion, Lukas May
by Fintech News Singapore February 8, 2019TransferWise is a London-headquartered international money transfer company, and it has built quite a name for itself in Singapore’s island nation in parts thanks to the efforts of its head of Asia-Pacific expansion, Lukas May.
Lukas May has since resigned from his position as TransferWise’s Head of Banking to return to London for a stint working on the UK-Asia trade negotiations with the UK government, according to The Business Times.
At the time of writing, TransferWise has yet to announce a replacement.
Lukas May’s Time in TransferWise
He led TransferWise’s expansion efforts into new markets, establishing relationships with banks and regulators. During his time, TransferWise could strike a partnership with DBS Bank for its launch back in 2017.
He also serves as an advocate for regulators,
Prior to starting TransferWise Lukas worked at a regulator in the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) during which he initially set up from its predecessor, the now defunct Financial Services Authority.
Under Lukas’ leadership, TransferWise set up its presence in Singapore not just as another market to expand into, but also to serve as TransferWise’s hub Asia Pacific hub. At the end of 2017, TransferWise would have had a team in the hub comprising of engineering, product, verification, compliance, customer support, regulation and marketing.
TransferWise is often considered a first-mover of remittance disruption globally, and in a similar vein its presence in the Singaporean market was instrumental in shifting preconceived notions about remittance in this city-state.
The remittance company came into Singapore with a network of local bank accounts with banks across the world. They use them to transfer funds at cheaper and more quickly than existing systems. By its entry into Singapore, it already offers transfers to 67 countries, and can receive transfers from 42.
They aren’t the only company to run on a similar business model in Singapore, with others like InstaRem, Chynge and Coinpip also operating in Singapore around the same time, but it can’t be denied that collectively, they improved on the overall remittance scene in Singapore.
Lukas also oversaw the execution of a variety of studies on the attitudes and behaviours of the Singaporean people, some of which we spoke about here and here.
