Digital remittances are gaining ground across Asia Pacific, led by mobile banking and wallet tools, but the shift is accompanied by high fraud exposure in major receiving markets and widespread uncertainty about stablecoins, according to a new survey of more than 45,000 remittance senders and recipients in 20 markets.
The Asia Pacific findings from The Money Travels: 2026 Digital Remittances Adoption Report cover Australia, Mainland China, India, Japan, the Philippines and Singapore. They show that people sending money abroad increasingly favor mobile channels, while the reasons for receiving funds remain closely tied to household bills and financial emergencies.
The Philippines recorded the highest share of respondents who said they send remittances, at 45%, followed by Australia at 35%. Japan was the lowest among the surveyed regional markets, at 8%. The Philippines also had the highest reported rate of receiving money from overseas, at 45%, while Japan recorded 5%.
Mobile banking applications were the preferred method for international money transfers in every Asia Pacific market surveyed, with reported use ranging from 33% to 60%. Mobile wallets had their strongest foothold in India, where 36% of respondents preferred them, followed by the Philippines at 28% and Mainland China at 27%.
Household support remains the main reason for remittances
The survey places the growth of digital transfer tools within a familiar economic reality: remittances are often used to cover recurring household needs rather than discretionary spending.
Among recipients in the Philippines, 47% cited household bill payments as a key reason for receiving funds. The equivalent figure was 34% in India. Financial emergencies were also a major use case, reported by 42% of respondents in the Philippines and 33% in India.
Those obligations can create financial strain for senders. In India, 23% of respondents said they had delayed paying their own bills in order to support someone abroad, while 21% said the same in Mainland China. One-fifth of Indian respondents and 17% in Mainland China said they had reduced spending on essentials to send money internationally.
The figures underline why transfer costs, delivery speed and reliability remain central to remittance decisions. A sender paying bills for family members overseas may have little flexibility when a payment is delayed or intercepted, making the security of a transfer channel as relevant as its convenience.
Japan retains a preference for bank branches
Japan was the clearest outlier in the regional move toward app-based remittances. Some 32% of Japanese respondents said they preferred to make international transfers at physical bank branches, far above the level implied by the report’s mobile-first pattern elsewhere in the region.
That preference may leave traditional providers with a more durable role in Japan’s cross-border payments market, even as digital services become more common. It also suggests that the adoption of digital remittances is not moving at a uniform pace across Asia Pacific, where consumer habits, banking access and trust in new payment channels differ widely.
The survey did not present digital transfers as a simple replacement for conventional banking. Instead, its market-by-market results show mobile tools expanding alongside established channels, particularly where users place a premium on personal assistance or familiar bank processes.
Fraud concerns shape payment preferences
Reported exposure to remittance scams was highest in India, where 40% of respondents said they had encountered such fraud. The Philippines followed at 29%, compared with 19% in Mainland China and 11% in Japan.
Anxiety about fraud involving artificial intelligence was even more pronounced. Sixty-two percent of respondents in the Philippines and 53% in India said they were concerned about AI-enabled fraud, including deepfakes that can be used to impersonate relatives and pressure people into sending money.
The willingness to accept delays for greater protection indicates that speed is not the only measure of a successful remittance service. In Japan, 68% of respondents said they would accept a 24-hour transfer delay in exchange for stronger AI-powered fraud safeguards. That view was shared by 57% of respondents in Singapore and 57% in Australia.
For payment companies and banks, those responses create a practical challenge: users want transfers to arrive quickly, but many are prepared to tolerate friction when it is clearly tied to preventing fraud. Features such as recipient verification, suspicious-payment alerts and transaction review may therefore become more influential in consumer choice, especially in markets reporting high scam exposure.
Stablecoin awareness has yet to translate into confidence
The 2026 study included its first module on stablecoins, examining consumer awareness, perceptions and intent to use them. It found that misconceptions remain widespread, with roughly half of respondents believing stablecoins are as risky as, or riskier than, other cryptocurrencies.
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a relatively stable value, commonly by referencing a government currency such as the U.S. dollar. Their design does not eliminate risk: the report noted that stablecoins are not covered by deposit insurance programs such as the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s protection or Canada’s CDIC coverage.
That distinction appears relevant to the survey’s findings. Stablecoins may be increasingly discussed as a possible tool for moving money internationally, but consumers still need to assess issuer quality, redemption arrangements, wallet security and the protections available if a provider fails. The report’s hypothetical questions about “bank-equivalent protections” should not be read as evidence that such protections currently apply.
Morning Consult conducted the survey between February 24 and March 2, 2026. Its findings are based on self-reported responses, and participants were provided definitions before answering questions, including those concerning stablecoins.
The results suggest that Asia Pacific’s remittance market is becoming more mobile without becoming less cautious. Digital banking apps and wallets are taking a larger role in the transfer process, while fraud prevention and clear consumer protections remain decisive barriers to greater trust in newer payment options.
Worried about scams in cross-border payments? Learn key protection steps in this guide before your next transfer.
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