THE Western Union Co. decided to launch its mobile app to cash in on the Philippine inbound-market for remittances, which executives of the money transfer company see as remaining robust.
Gregory Laurent, director at Western Union Financial Services. (Australia) Pty Ltd, told reporters last Wednesday that the Philippines is the fourth-largest inbound market in terms of remittances. Averaging $36 billion annually, this market has been growing steadily year after year, according to Laurent.
‘It is a very successful market, and I think the company is doing the right thing to serve overseas in every country where they have presence,’ he said during the launch of the company’s mobile app in the country.
Laurent said they expect the app to be a growth engine based on the company’s experience in other economies. He cited the feature of the app, which combines digital and retail, making the value proposition in a very competitive environment.
‘Today’s launch marks an important milestone in our effort[s],’ Laurent said. ‘For many in the country, remittances represent a life with more opportunity and hope. At the same time, an increasing number of Filipinos opt to send funds abroad.’
He said the firm’s new app ‘gives the opportunity to do both.’
Ricardo Alair, Western Union Director for the Philippines, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and Palau, noted that the digitization in the Philippines is fast paced.
Laurent credited regulator’s ‘huge’ support to promote innovation as enabling such momentum.
‘For us, it was actually an obvious choice to take the Philippines as a market to launch this new receiver environment,’ he said.
‘I think we are actually hoping that this is going to be super successful,’ Alair added.
Laurent said Western Union received a ‘warm response’ from the market considering the app was launched only ‘a couple of weeks ago.’ He noted there was traction already on the volume.
He said it took Western Union a longer time to enter the local market as the licensing took a bit longer for approval.
‘We took our time, but we are hopeful that this is the right product,’ Alair said.
‘We did receive support from the regulator as well. And then the second reason is, maybe, in terms of a roadmap across the organization, we had to wait for a fast spot to develop the app,’ Laurent explained. ‘Thirdly, we really took time to think about this experience wisely. We took time to make sure that we had the most efficient experience.’
According to him, the Denver, Colorado-headquartered company is looking at expanding its digital footprint from the current 80 countries.
According to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, remittances to the Philippines reached an all-time high of $38 billion last year. Further, the World Bank ranked the Philippines as the fourth-highest remittance levels among low-middle and middle-income countries last year. The biggest source of cash remittances last year was the United States, followed by Singapore.