San Francisco-based Xoom Corp. said it has launched an online wire transfer service that allows delivery to most United Kingdom bank accounts in about an hour or less.
That compares to the usual business day or two, according to Xoom, a provider of online money transfer services to 32 countries. The 17 banks represent 95% of that market and include Co-Operative Bank, Bank of Scotland and HSBC, the company said.
Transfer fees are $4.99 for transactions up to $2,999 funded by U.S. financial institutions, the company said. The transactions can be made online 24/7 from computers or Internet-enabled mobile devices and can be set up to recur.
The company said its recent survey of more than 200 Britons living in the United States found that 72% of transfers to the U.K. are made by men, 25% are engineers or IT professionals, 15% of them have lived here for five to seven years and 42% of U.K. transfer service users send money home once a month, both to pay bills and to family members.
