SingPost to Offer Visa Money Transfer
Noticed this from Paymentz as SingPost, a postal service company in my very own country Singapore is offering money transfer services to different parts of the world. It shows the potential and lucrativeness on the demanding money wire business.
Visa and Singapore Post Limited (SingPost) have announced that they will support the Visa Money Transfer remittance service from 51 designated post offices in Singapore enabling the transfer of money to to Visa cardholders in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United Kingdom. This is the first time Visa Money Transfer has been made available through a postal service provider. (source)
It all started with a few shops in Orchard/ City Plaza in Singapore. offering wire remittance services, which are popular as merchants can see the huge market of domestic workers (Indonesians, Philippines, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis and more) who’re working in Singapore remitting money back to their home country. Big players like Western Union and even the local banks soon follow suit offering money remittance services, offering even more choices for the mass market.
There’s no argument on the number and amount in terms of remittance back to their home countries when they are in Singapore, people can be seen queuing up almost daily on the busy streets to send money back to their families. Just look at how much Non Residences of Bangladeshis remits back to their home country in 2006. Over 3.89 billion USD (source: People’s Daily Online).
With more people getting credit cards/ debit cards, Visa wallets, customers who remits back home on a regular basis could skip the hassle of filling up forms every time with a simple Cashome card, offered by SingPost which the money would then be transmitted to the recipient 16 digits Visa card number/ account. Recipient can then just use the card to purchase/ or withdraw from any ATM machines that support the Visa/ PLUS network.
This would probably be attracting a different class of people in countries like India, Philippines, China who at least owns a credit/ debit card.
People who are interested in this brand new SingPost service can visit their site for more info.
