Have you heard the joke about Small World’s partner in The Philippines, Cebuana, having more branches across country than fast food chain, McDonalds?
Well guess what, it’s absolutely true.
And, if you send money to The Philippines for cash pick-up, you beneficiary has a huge number of locations to pick up their money. In this article we take a look at why that is such a crucial benefit for those living in The Philippines and receiving money from friends and family based abroad.
Cebuana, a partner of Small World, prides itself on having a national presence across The Philippines, and there’s a good chance that your beneficiary, wherever they are, will be near a collection point? in a comfortable reach of one.
Small World and Cebuana’s partnership
Our partnership began in 2012, and since then your beneficiaries across the country have been able to enjoy many advantages as a result.
So, who are Cebuana and how are they connected to money transfer?
Cebuana Lhuiller is The Philippines’ leading and largest micro financial services provider whose main services include:
- Pawning
- Money remittance
- Microinsurance
- Microloans
- Micro savings
Having set sail from France to the Philippines in 1933, Frenchman Henry Leon Lhuillier opened the first Agencia Cebuana in Cebu in 1953.
By 2011 the company had more than 1,500 branches and in July last year they reached the 1m mark for micro savings account holders.
Why is this significant?
The geographical landscape of The Philippines brings with it some unique challenges, particularly for money transfer and cash pick-up.
An archipelago of 7641 islands of which roughly 2,000 are inhabited, many of the financial institutions concentrated in the cities. It can therefore be hard for anyone living in any of the country’s rural locations to get to a bank and collect their international money transfer.
This is where Cebuana come in, and why our partnership with them is so important. Between its pawn shops and other agents, they have a network of over 4,000 representatives across the country, providing genuine accessibility to cash pick-up and the other services they provide such as: Foreign exchange Bills payment Loan payment Mobile credit You can find more information about these and other services on the Cebuana website.
What does this partnership mean for money transfer to The Philippines?
Of course, it’s the cash pick-up service which is of most interest to us here at Small World and the main reason for our partnership with Cebuana.
We want our services to be available to everyone, not just those who live in the big cities. We know that visiting major cities and towns to access banks can be an intimidating experience for Filipinos living in rural location. By working closely with a company who also believe in financial inclusion we can help people have access to their money no matter where they live.
If you send money for pick-up to a local Cebuana branch or agent it means that your friends and family won’t have to travel far to collect their money and it’s part of the reason why, from Luzon to Mindanao, we have money transfer to The Philippines covered.
Excellent customer service
Another key advantage of this partnership is that Cebuana’s customer service team is also based in The Philippines.
This means that they can provide local knowledge and expertise while operating during hours which are convenient to the Filipino population. Should there be any issues with your money transfer, the team will be on hand to resolve in local time and in local language.
As this is a direct relationship there are no intermediaries involved and any issues that your beneficiary might have relating to money transfer can be resolved quickly and directly without any passing of blame.
It is for reasons such as these that we work so hard on building effective and long-lasting partnerships across the world; partnerships which help as many people as possible have fast and efficient access to the money you send them.
Ways to send money to The Philippines:
- Bank deposit
- Cash pick-up
- New cash card
- Cash card reload
- Home delivery
Our main partners in The Philippines are BDO, BPI, Filremit, Metrobank, PNB, LANDBANK, EastWest
