I-Remit sees big growth from OFW deals

Listed money transfer firm I-Remit Inc. expects to maintain double-digit growth in terms of remittance volume as transactions increase from Filipino workers overseas and as it opens up new markets targeting foreigners.

The company, which claims a leading spot in the non-bank domestic money transfer market, is growing volumes at about 10 percent  “so far” over last year, I-Remit president and chief operating officer Harris Jacildo told reporters at the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting.

“I think we can sustain that especially with new markets,” Jacildo said.

He said the company’s volume growth continued to outpace the remittance industry, which increased 5.3 percent to $1.87 billion in May, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed. This brought the five-month total to $8.78 billion, up 5.6 percent.

I-Remit said transactions it processed in 2012 grew 10.4 percent to P3.08 billion.

“We are still targeting to grow bigger than the industry,” Jacildo said.

While the business model also depended on fees generated from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sending money back home, the company has also been targeting countries with a large number of international workers of their own.

As far as other nationalities are concerned, we have China and we launched Indonesia [in Hong Kong] two weeks ago,” Jacildo said.

He said that I-Remit was looking to serve Indonesians working in Hong Kong, a market that has been rapidly growing in recent years.

“The demand for workers in Hong Kong has increased because the economy in Hong Kong has improved,” I-Remit chair Bansan Choa told reporters.