Remittances from Singapore to Indonesia, Philippines via mobile phone

From today, people in Singapore will be able to to send money directly to the bank accounts of family and friends in the Philippines and in Indonesia via their mobile phones, thanks to SingTel’s mRemit service. MRemit can be used by anyone on any mobile network, the company said.

Funds can be remitted to more than 80 Indonesian banks, including Bank Danamon, Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Mandiri. Recipients will have access to transferred funds within three minutes of a successful transaction. As a launch promotion, fees for mobile remittance transactions to Indonesia have been waived until 31 August.

Johan Buse, SingTel’s Vice President of Consumer Marketing, said: “We are delighted to extend the convenience and flexibility of mRemit to the 180,000* Indonesians who currently call Singapore home. With mRemit, customers need not queue for hours at traditional over-the-counter remittance outlets, as they have the flexibilty to initiate transfers at any time through their mobile phones. This is particularly useful for workers who have very few days off or work irregular hours.”

From today, customers from the Philippines will also have the option of sending funds directly to accounts in more than 50 banks in their home country, including BDO, RCBC and Metrobank. 

Since its launch in 2012, mRemit has offered mobile remittances to the Philippines in collaboration with GCASH, the mobile commerce service of SingTel’s associate company, Globe Telecom. The service has been well received, attracting more than 25,000 users to date. 

mRemit is compatible with both smartphones and feature phones. Customers use the funds in their mCash accounts for all remittances. They initiate the transactions using SingTel's mWallet smartphone app**, or by sending the word 'remit' via SMS to the number 77766. The sending and receiving parties will be notified by SMS once transfers have been successfully completed.

Customers enjoy competitive exchange rates and remittance fees from as low as S$2.40. Topping up mCash accounts is easy and convenient via more than 1,000 locations island-wide, including AXS stations, or over-the-counter at 7-Eleven, Cheers, Fairprice Xpress and SingTel retail stores.

*Source: the Indonesian embassy in Singapore.

**The mWallet is available for download from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

MoneyGram self-service kiosks to stay in 7-Eleven stores in Australia

Source: 7-Eleven Australia website.

MoneyGram International, a global money transfer and payment services company and the only funds transfer provider in Australia to offer money transfer services through a kiosk, has extended its agreement with 7-Eleven in Australia to allow customers to send and receive funds anytime at self-service kiosks located in 7-Eleven stores. More than 60% of transactions made at these kiosks are completed after normal business hours.

"This agreement demonstrates MoneyGram's commitment to providing customers with innovative and convenient options to quickly send and receive funds at any time," said Grant Lines, MoneyGram's EVP of Asia Pacific, South Asia and Middle East. "7-Eleven's relationship with Cullinan Consulting Group, which provides the kiosks and retailer assistance technology, has enabled us to successfully offer these easy-to-use, technologically advanced services at 7-Eleven stores since 2010, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration."

The kiosks provide convenient, easy-to-use money transfer services 24 hours a day at more than 530 7-Eleven stores in Australia. 7-Eleven Stores operates 600 stores in Queensland, New South Wales,Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia.

"Introducing MoneyGram has provided our customers with another reason to visit 7-Eleven. Thousands of new and repeat customers use this service every year, enhancing our convenient, one-stop shopping for Australians," said Warren Wilmot, CEO of 7-Eleven Stores.

According to the World Bank, the Australia remittance market is worth approximately US$7.3 billion as of April 2014. Money transfer transactions sent from Australia primarily go to India, the Philippines, Fiji, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Africa.