Smart Communications, Western Union to launch mobile remittances in the Philippines

Currently, Smart currently has over 30 million subscribers and an established mobile financial service platform linking local bank accounts to mobile handsets. Over 7 million Smart subscribers are part of the Smart Money system, of which approximately 2 million are card owners. The company has agreements with five Philippine commercial banks and links to over 7,000 ATMs nationwide, more than 100 Smart Wireless Centres and thousands of third-party Smart Money fulfilment partners. On the other hand, Western Union has developed the industrys largest global money transfer Agent network comprising 320,000 locations in over 200 countries and territories.The country choice is strategic, since the Philippines is the fourth-largest receiver of remittances in the world and in 2007 alone it received around USD 17 billion, according to data provided by World Bank. 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, mentions Matt Dill, General Manager, Western Union Mobile. We believe there is a real opportunity to extend the reach of Western Unions brand and service proposition to a new and more mobile consumer base.Following the roll-out of the Western Union mobile money transfer pilot, the service will connect operators to Western Unions existing global money transfer system. Thus, users will be able to use their own mobile wallet software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Unions cross-border remittance network. In addition, the Mobile Money Transfer service allows consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and comes with a global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions.This partnership is part of the pilot program of Western Union and the GSM Association, a global trade association representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators, and aimed at boosting the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services.