Of course, the stakes of deciphering money transfers are significantly higher than those of deep diving into cereals. Money transferred may be needed to cover rent, school fees, or hospital bills. Despite the stakes, remittance providers have yet to introduce something like a nutrition label, a comprehensive overview of essential product information like exchange rates, transfer timelines, fees, and net amounts.
The features providers tend to highlight are those that help promote their product. Some focus on affordable fees, others on competitive exchange rates or transfer speeds. Few provide the full picture. Getting a clear grasp of features and access to essential information often also means having to sign up to several providers before being able to compare them. That takes time, which customers needing to transfer money urgently don’t have, and it complicates making critical decisions.
To make matters worse, international transfers don’t just cost time and effort, they cost real money. On average, the cost of sending a remittance was 6.36% in the third quarter of 2025, according to the World Bank. That is more than double the 2030 transaction cost target of less than 3% for migrant remittances under the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Remittances benefit recipients the most when transfer costs are competitive; that makes the ability to compare providers crucial.
Five bits of information are needed to effectively compare providers: the amount being sent, transfer timeline, exchange rate, total fees, and how much the recipient will receive. Access to this information is especially important in the UAE, which is among the world’s largest outwards remittance markets, where exchange houses alone processed AED 115.7B in FY25, per the UAE Central Bank (CBUAE).
Financial literacy depends on transparency
Maximising the impact of remittances requires both senders who are financially literate and providers who are transparent. Financial literacy, which Investopedia defines as “the set of skills needed to handle money wisely, invest effectively, and plan for a comfortable future,” equips senders to determine what amount to send and which provider to send it with. Transparency ensures the information senders need to make transfer choices is accessible, digestible, and readily comparable.
Even the most competent senders depend on transparent information to make sensible decisions. Yet even the most transparent information does little to shape choices if senders lack the competency to use it effectively. Financial literacy and transparency go hand in hand. Regulators and industry must jointly advance both.
When surveyed, 55% of US consumers said they understood the cost of money transfers, but only 18% identified exchange rates as a driver of that cost. When the stakes are high, every bit of information matters, determining how much of the sender’s transfer reaches the recipient, and how much recipients can do with it.
One step toward greater transparency would be for the remittances industry to adopt the equivalent of a nutrient label. In fact, CBUAE already requires licensed financial institutions to provide Key Facts Statements to customers, ensuring that essential product information is presented in the simplest possible way. But with many remittance providers not categorized as financial institutions, senders, unfortunately, can’t take advantage of the transparency these statements create.
What’s needed, therefore, is a remittances label that, by providing a full and clear picture of every transfer, puts customers back into the driver’s seat. When every dollar counts, both for the sender and the receiver, every bit of information matters.
Launching a UAE remittances label
Pioneering a UAE remittances label makes sense for a couple of reasons. First, market size. Second, ongoing government efforts to foster financial transparency.
To make a difference, such a label should include at least five metrics for every transfer: exchange rate, applicable fees, transfer timeline, amount sent, amount to be received. While providers would still compete on price, speed, and service, customers could readily assess them to choose the one that best suits their needs.
The UAE remittances industry has a real and meaningful opportunity to pioneer a remittances label. Providers should begin by making voluntary commitments to pilot the label, come together to agree on its form, and be sure to invite customer feedback afterwards. If the pilot is successful, providers should work with the UAE government on using insights from the pilot to create an industry-wide standard.
Without the vision and foresight that the government has shown, the UAE wouldn’t have achieved all it did in just 54 years. Mandating transparency in the remittances industry would be yet another example of the UAE being ahead of its time.
Yet its providers who should champion a remittances label, recognising that a label would spur healthy competition, incentivise differentiation, and create customer value.
Stay Up to Date with the Latest Updates at Finance ME
How Al Masraf Is Building Islamic Trade Finance Corridors
EDGE’s Rodrigo Torres on Risk, Sovereignty and Defence Finance in a Multipolar World
Presight AI to Expand Kazakhstan AI Hub, Open Azerbaijan Office
