The money transfer provider, Western Union has announced plans for a
money transfer program with the Philippine operator, SMART.
SMART, which ended 2007 with more than 30 million subscribers, already has an established mobile financial service platform linking local bank accounts to mobile handsets, providing significant convenience for banked consumers. At the end of 2007, more than 7 million SMART subscribers were in the Smart Money system, close to 2 million of whom are cardholders. The company has agreements with five Philippine commercial banks and links to over 7,000 ATMs nationwide, more than 100 Smart Wireless Centers and thousands of third-party Smart Money fulfillment partners.
"More than 44 percent of households in the Philippines have a relative or family member working abroad, and the mobile phone plays a tremendous role in keeping families connected," said Matt Dill, General Manager, Western Union Mobile. "We believe there is a real opportunity to extend the reach of Western Union's brand and service proposition to a new and more mobile consumer base."
According to recent World Bank data, the Philippines is the fourth-largest receiver of remittances in the world and received an estimated US$17 billion in 2007.
Once the Western Union mobile money transfer pilot has launched, the service will connect operators to Western Union's existing global money transfer system. Once connected to the Western Union service, operators will be able to use their own "mobile wallet" software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Union's cross-border remittance network. The Mobile Money Transfer service will enable consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and will offer a global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions.
The agreement with SMART is part of the pilot program of Western Union and the GSM Association.
Posted to the site on 30th January 2008
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/28939.php