Félix will integrate Mastercard Move into its platform, enabling senders to initiate transfers via the Félix chatbot on WhatsApp, using debit cards as a funding source for their remittances to Latin America.
Félix, a U.S.-based cross-border remittance platform targeting Latin American corridors, has announced an expanded partnership with Mastercard to modernize and accelerate remittance flows from the United States into Latin America.
The deal leverages Mastercard’s “Move” payment infrastructure to deliver more transparent, faster, and secure money transfers from senders in the U.S. to recipients across Latin American countries. Transfers are intended to reach recipients very fast, “often in minutes,” increasing the speed of delivery compared to legacy methods.
The combination of Félix’s user-friendly interface and easy-to-use payment methods like WhatsApp transfers, along with Mastercard’s global payment infrastructure, aims to improve transparency on user fees, exchange rates, and timing.
The U.S. is a dominant origin for remittances into Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In 2017, around 76 % of total remittances to the region came from the United States. In 2024, the region received about $161 billion in remittances, with most sent from the United States, that is also the top remittance-sending country globally. In the U.S.-Mexico corridor alone, the single largest global remittance pipeline, the 2022 money transfer volume was $56 billion.
These remittance flows act as lifelines for many households in Latin America, often used for everyday costs (food, health, education) and also contributing to savings, investment, and resilience. Beyond the meaning for individual households, steady remittance inflows boost customer purchase capacities and are associated with financial development in recipient countries.
Because of their importance, improvements in the speed, cost, and transparency of remittance corridors can yield considerable benefits. Lower costs mean more of the money reaches the beneficiary, while faster transfers reduce risks for senders and receivers alike.
This partnership between Félix and Mastercard could be a harbinger of the next generation of remittance services: fintech-led, chat-enabled, infrastructure-powered, and focused on lowering friction. At the same time, while the partnership enhances one corridor (U.S.–Latin America), many remittance corridors globally remain underserved or costly.
