In money transfer and cross-border payments, the sending country is the country in which a transfer starts and the sender hands over the funds. It is also called the source, origin or send country. Together with the receiving country it defines a remittance corridor, and in remittance statistics it records the money as an outflow.
The sending country is where most regulation of the provider takes place. A firm that accepts money from the public there needs the local form of license, such as a money transmitter license in a US state or authorization as a payment institution in Europe, and must apply that country's rules on customer identification, disclosure of fees and exchange rates, and protection of customer funds. The sending country also determines how transfers are funded, whether by cash at agents, bank transfer or card, and it is usually where the provider sets its prices. Large sending countries are those that host many migrant workers.