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2018 MSB Report

The Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS) is the system of record for nonbank financial services licensing and bank mortgage loan originator registration. It is owned and operated by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors on behalf of state regulators. You can access the full version of this report here.

The money services businesses industry overall handled $1.41 trillion, up from a revised $1.33 trillion in 2017.   

The money transmission industry is highly concentrated with the 10 largest companies moving 71 percent of the $851 billion total.   

Foreign transfers, or international wires, remained 22% of all money transmission in the United States. The average foreign transaction was $285, down from $479 last year.    

Virtual currency exchange dropped 59% from $115.95 billion in 2017 to $47.7 billion in 2018. Virtual currency transmission rose 75% from $12.7 billion to $22.3 billion.   

Sector

Volume

Companies

Fintech Volume

Fintech Companies 

% $ Fintech 

Money Transmission 

$851.2b
(+24%) 

292 +5.8% 

$448,131,604,535 

69 

54% 

Payment Instruments 

$175.2b
(7.7% )

101, -7.3% 

$3,500,525,533 

1.9% 

Stored Value 

$296.0b
(+29%) 

75, +23% 

$254,356,621,671 

21 

86% 

Check Cashing 

$14.2b
(-16.6%) 

176, +8.6% 

$0 

0% 

Currency Exchange 

$5.4b
(22%) 

21, 10.5% 

$469,040,022 

9% 

Virtual Currency Exchange 

$47.7b
(-57%) 

14, +75% 

$64,649,566,505 

15* 

93% 

Virtual Currency Transmission 

$22.2b
(+261%) 

22, 83.3% 

 

 

 

MSB Total 

$1.412t
(+13.7%) 

460, +8.8% 

$771,107,358,266 

77 

55.5% 

Fintech is defined as a company licensed in 4 or more states with 2 or fewer agent locations.
*Virtual Currency ATMs/Kiosks are reported as agents
2018 data as reported February 27, 2020 

Money transmitters by geographic reach  

The number of companies operating in a single state increased by 1 between 2017 and 2018, while the number of companies operating in more than 20 states increased by 17%.