Dubai: MoneyGram, a global provider of money transfer and payment services, expects to see robust growth in business from the GCC region as the regional economies diversify away from oil, Grant Lines, Chief Revenue Officer of MoneyGram told Gulf News in an interview.
MoneyGram operates in the region from its Dubai office. The city also serves as the new hub for operations in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and South Asia, Africa as well as Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
“The economic reforms undertaken by the GCC region following the decline in oil prices are expected to create new opportunities in this market. While volumes transacted through some remittance corridors are expected to see some changes, overall remittance volumes from the region is likely to remain high,” said Lines.
Grant Lines
Chief revenue officer at MoneyGram
The recent economic reforms in some of the key economies in the GCC targeting more employment for the nationals are likely to see a reduction in opportunities for expatriates in some of the sectors of the economy. Over the past two years Saudi Arabia has introduced labour market reforms that targets more job opportunities for Saudi nationals.
MoneyGram has been present in Saudi Arabia since 2005 with over 200 agent locations and more than 2,900 ATMs to serve its customers. Saudisation [employing Saudi nationals in more sectors of the economy] is expected to see some impact on remittances out of the kingdom. But analyst say the rising demand for new infrastructure and new investments in sectors such as manufacturing and construction are expected to boost demand for foreign labour.
“It is true that some sectors of the economy are likely to see a decline in expatriate workforce because of economic reforms. But at the same time the reform process is likely to open up opportunities for a newer class of job seekers,” said Lines.
MoneyGram operates through a wide range of agents in the region such as banks, post offices and exchange houses, while the company has been innovating in recent years to offer its customers digital options to send and receive money.
In the UAE, MoneyGram is available in more than 100 locations of prominent exchange houses, such as Al Ahalia Exchange Bureau, Al Rostamani International Exchange, Emirates India International Exchange, GCC Exchange and a few others. In Saudi Arabia customers can send money via over 2,900 ATMs of National Commercial Bank. In Qatar customers can send money via Ooredoo Mobile Wallet. In the Middle East customers can send money to M-pesa in Kenya
As part of its efforts to reach out maximum number of customers across key remittance corridors in Asia, MoneyGram has a network of local partnerships in markets such as India, the Philippines and Indonesia. In India, the company’s partnerships include Paul Merchants, Weizmann Forex and Transcorp International, in addition the company is in the process of adding over 15,000 locations across the country.
Digital future
As part of adding customer convenience and meeting challenges from the new digital service offerings ranging from banks, exchange companies and fintechs, MoneyGram has devised its own digital strategy.
In the third quarter of 2017, digital money transfer revenue grew 6 per cent on a reported basis over the prior year driven by strong growth from moneygram.com. Digital [business] now represents 15 per cent of total money transfer revenue of the company.
“We’ve made substantial investments into digital/self-service technologies that have translated into growth, demonstrating our customers not only want new and unique channels in which to transact but they also want a better and more convenient service. In 2018 and beyond, our primary focus will be on development of the digital channels across key markets such as the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain,” said Lines.
While MoneyGram will continue to invest in digital growth opportunities across its key markets through digital channels such as kiosks, moneygram.com, MoneyGram SendBot, account deposit and mobile wallets the company remains committed to its agent based branch network model.
“We expect to see significant growth in digital transactions, going forward. But that doesn’t mean that all of our transactions will become digital. Vast majority of our transactions, and all payments made around the world for that matter, still involve cash as part of the transaction flow. Good news for MoneyGram as we are well-positioned with 350,000 physical locations around the world,” said Lines.
