Remitly, the largest independent digital remittance company in North America, aims to widen its reach in the Philippines. The company’s first remittance service was aimed at helping Philippine overseas communities send money to loved ones back home from the United States. Remitly has strong ties with the country and sees the market’s potential to get bigger.
The company has since expanded into more countries around the world to help overseas Filipinos in Australia and Canada and recently announced additional expansion into 11 new countries across Europe.
To achieve growth of the Philippines’ disbursement network, Remitly proactively updated its offering to now include all of the top banks in the country and over 10,000 cash pickup locations across the nation. Its featured partners include Banco De Oro, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Metrobank, Philippine National Bank, M Lhuillier, Cebuana Lhuillier, and LBC. Also part of this roster are SM Department Store, Globe, Villarica Pawnshop, Palawan Pawnshop, and Bayad Center, to name a few.
To date, over USD 2 billion has been sent to the Philippines through Remitly’s money transfer platform. According to Remitly, customers saved over USD 9 million in transfer fees on average compared to competitors. This is for transactions of cash pickup to the Philippines using a debit card for the average amount of USD 300.
As a way to give back and help more Filipinos, Remitly created a scholarship program for students in the Philippines. To date Remitly has donated USD 240,000 to help students pay for university expenses. This has helped 500 students in the Philippines achieve higher education. Remitly’s other CSR initiatives include partnering with Philippine Red Cross for relief operations.
What’s New on Remitly
Remitly has recently introduced a feature for customers to send the currency they need to their loved ones in the Philippines. Dual currency allows Remitly’s customers, regardless of the location they send from, to send money in USD, CAD, or AUD and receive the funds in USD or PHP in the Philippines. This feature is available at cash pickup locations or through home delivery.
Remitly also partnered with leading fintech company, Stirpe, to help more Filipinos overseas. Remitly now provides its service to the Philippines overseas community in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Another unique new service Remitly created for the Philippines is its Seafarers service. The solution will specifically help cruise ship workers send their hard-earned money to the Philippines while they’re away at sea straight from the cruise ship using their phone or computer. This way they can pay little-to-no fees and skip the long lines at kiosks or money transfer agents when they’re at port.
Remitly is a platform that helps immigrant communities send money to loved ones overseas. Its reliable and easy-to-use mobile app makes the process of sending money faster, easier, more transparent and less costly by eliminating the forms, codes, agents, extra time and fees typical of the traditional, century-old money transfer process.