Visa launches near real-time money remittance in PH

Manila, Philippines—Before, money abroad could be received overnight; then, money could be received on the same day, Now it can be received real time.

Visa together with the Union Bank of the Philippines has launched a faster and more convenient way to receive everyday remittances through Visa debit and prepaid cards, a ‘real-time’ cash transfer service which allows over two million Visa cardholders to send and receive funds straight to their cards in minutes, said Iain Jamieson, Visa Country Manager of the Philippines and Guam

Visa launched its first live real time money remittance on Wednesday through United Arab Emirates (UAE) Exchange, the first remitter to offer service to the Philippines, Jamieson added.

A live demonstration was shown in a conference connected to UAE Exchange in Dubai where a certain amount of money was sent in the Philippines. The money was confirmed to have been received by a sample Visacard in minutes.

Vikram Modi, head of money transfer in the Asia-Pacific region for Visa, said this service allows receiving money and confirmation at the time of transaction. There is no need to fill-up complicated forms, he noted, and the process provides more security, and eliminates more ‘visits’ to pick up cash.

“Time is one of the problems of OFW’s before, so we’re glad that we can do that (money remittance) in minutes now.” Said Victor Valdepenas, Union Bank of the Philippine President and Chief Operating officer.

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) in UAE can visit any one of the 90 UAE Exchange branches where they simply provide their Visa card number to initiate the fund transfer. The transfer also provides routing information such as bank codes and branch addresses, Jamieson said.

Modi said that based on their research, 86% of Visa card holders in UAE find this new program appealing. “This is because of the demand on quickness and convenience,” he said.

Visa is planning to expand their services to other countries soon, Jamieson revealed.