Galileo Financial Technologies, LLC, a financial technology company owned and operated independently by SoFi Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFI), announced that its API-enabled financial technology powers Pomelo, a new charge card that “allows families in the U.S. to build and extend their credit access abroad without incurring expensive remittance fees.”
According to the World Bank, remittances to low- and middle-income countries “will reach $630 billion in 2022.”
Despite a 4.2% increase from 2021, international money transfers “continue to impose expensive transfer fees and exchange rate markups on senders.”
Pomelo, launched “to combat this challenge, is the first option that allows families to combine credit with money transfer to make it easier to offer credit to friends and family overseas.” This added flexibility and accessibility “not only broadens financial inclusion for members of underserved communities who need it most – it also helps new Americans establish and strengthen their credit profile as they start their financial journey in the US.”
Pomelo selected Galileo and its payment processing solution “to deliver secure, fast, accurate, resilient and PCI-compliant authorization, reconciliation and settlement processing.”
Eric Velasquez Frenkiel, Founder and CEO at Pomelo, said:
“We set out to re-envision traditional international money transfers so our customers and their loved ones in emerging economies can benefit from access to modern financial instruments. We’ve made this possible through Galileo’s API technology and deep industry knowledge in delivering inclusive digital financial services that create seamless customer payments experiences.”
Galileo’s speed, precision and reliability — from authorization through settlement — will support Pomelo’s ability “to authorize requests quickly, ensure post accuracy, and allow customers to move money and settle funds seamlessly across all ecosystem partners.”
In addition to instant access to funds, the newly expanded Galileo Payment Risk Platform will aim to “deliver powerful end-to-end fraud and risk management and chargeback protection, supporting provisioning/onboarding to protect clients against a variety of payments fraud.”
Derek White, CEO at Galileo, remarked:
“We pride ourselves on partnering with forward-thinking companies like Pomelo that share in our mission to help people build a better financial future. Through our partnership, Galileo will support Pomelo’s rapid growth by powering their financial solutions with differentiation, automation, readiness and extensibility to create better connected ecosystems as they innovate money transfer through inclusive credit solutions.”
Pomelo currently “allows cardholders to send money from the US to the Philippines, with India and Mexico scheduled next, along with plans for further international expansion.”