Abu Dhabi: UAE Exchange, a global money transfer and foreign exchange brand, is looking to enter new markets such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana, according to Sudhir Kumar Shetty, chief operations officer of global operations.
The COO did not put a timeline for the expansion. Speaking to Gulf News, Shetty said that the company would also consider entering the Saudi market once regulatory clearance is received.
“When we put up our plan for expansion, we always look at the most active remittance corridors. India is the largest recipient of foreign remittance, so the focus is definitely on India. We are also now focusing on Africa because there’s a lot of remittance there inbound, outbound, and domestic,” the COO said.
The company is also looking into expansion in Malaysia where the brand is already present.
UAE Exchange is already present in eight countries in Africa including Morocco, Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia, among others. In total, it has over 725 branches spread over 32 countries, with 135 branches being in the UAE, and it is present across all GCC markets with the exception of Saudi Arabia.
“On average, we add roughly 100 new locations every year. The UAE in particular will probably have 10 to 15 branches every year,” Shetty said.
He said the company does not put a ballpark figure on the amount needed for investment as it varies depending on the nature of each market.
As for product expansion, the company is looking into new channels of remittance such as online remittance and telephone remittance. They said they are open to working with multiple banks to offer online remittance, with the terms of service being up to the banks
“The charges for money transfer vary depending on the corridor and various other factors. If online money transfer is introduced, we don’t see any major difference in the prices except for some convenience fee, normally charged for any such online transaction,” Shetty said.
He added that the company is open to multiple sources of customers’ funds including credit cards, debit cards, and bank accounts.
In 2013, UAE Exchange handled $25.4 billion (Dh93.29 billion) in remittances — a 6.1 per cent share of the global remittance volume. Nearly half of that amount came from the UAE where the business has its largest network of branches.
“[The remittance] mostly goes to South Asia, South East Asia, Far East, Africa, Middle East, and Eastern European countries. It follows the expatriate community living and working in this region. One thing is very clear, which is that all this [remittance] is going to developing countries,” Shetty said.
Commenting on competition in the market, Shetty said, “We have been in the market for the last 34 years. Naturally, as the market expands and there are more opportunities, more players will emerge. We have to always enhance our capabilities, and expand our product offerings, and as the market grows, everybody will be able to get a share of the growth.”
