iRemit ties up with Greek foreign exchange remittance company

MANILA, Philippines - iRemit Inc., the largest non-bank Filipino-owned remittance company, has further expanded its presence overseas through a joint venture agreement with Elite Exchange Remittance Services S.A. to provide remittance services to Filipino workers in Greece.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, iRemit said Elite Exchange is engaged in money remittance and foreign exchange trading under the supervision of the Bank of Greece.

Its head office is located in Ambelokipi, Athens, an area with a high concentration of Filipinos. Statistics from the Philippine embassy show that there are about 40,000 Filipinos in Greece.

iRemit is currently in 27 countries across Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and the Middle East, with almost 5,000 payout partners in the Philippines.

Just recently, iRemit opened its newest branch in Canada to meet the growing remittance needs of Filipinos and Chinese nationals. The new outlet, located in West Edmonton Mall, the largest shopping mall in North America and the fifth largest in the world, is iRemit’s fifth outlet in the country.

The Chinese remittance business of the company was established under a special agreement with the Bank of China Ltd. (BOC), one of China’s four state-owned commercial banks that provides a comprehensive range of high-quality financial services. BOC has numerous branches in every major continent outside of mainland China.

iRemit offers same-day processing of remittances which beneficiaries in China may withdraw from any of Bank of China’s over 12,000 domestic branches.

Filipinos in Canada now comprise the third-largest Asian-Canadian group after the Indian and Chinese communities, growing from 308,000 to 436,000 between 2001 and 2006.

Last year, iRemit handled $1.1 billion worth of remittances, up 42 percent from the previous year and exceeding the industry’s 37 percent growth. It expanded its operations in the Pacific region last year, opening new branches in New Zealand, Perth and Liverpool in Australia.

The company is also securing a license to operate in Italy and Macau to further widen its customer base. To tap a wider market, iRemit launched three major products, namely ShopNPay Visa Card and IShop.

iPay services include the collection and acceptance of premium and contribution payments of OFWs to key government agencies (Pag-IBIG, SSS and PhilHealth), real estate payments, pre-need and insurances, and the bills payment facilities through iRemit Visa Card.

The iShop, on the other hand, offers a variety of gift packages for delivery to beneficiaries.