by Jan Michael Carpo, Reporter
Here’s great news for customers of Cebuana Lhuillier!
Starting today, you can now send money straight to any BPI account in any of Cebuana’s strategically located branches nationwide. The new service forms part of BPI’s Remit to Account capabilities, whose ultimate goal is to speed up and simplify the process of sending and receiving money, especially for many Filipinos.
This add-on service was made possible after the money remittance company opted to strengthen its alliance with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) in an effort to further expand its capacity for money transfers.
BPI, on the other hand, plans to stage its local expansion using Cebuana Lhuillier’s powerful network of branches and wide reach to provide access to the unbanked and underbanked sector in the country.
“Even before the start of the pandemic, Cebuana Lhuillier has already explored the use of digital channels through strategic partnerships to better improve our money transfers business,” explained Jean Henri D. Lhuillier, President and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier, in a press statement.
“This partnership with BPI, no doubt the country’s most trusted bank, will provide clients from both our businesses the much-needed convenience and accessibility in sending money to friends and family members, especially those living in communities. This is in line with our commitment to further innovate our products and services, providing millions of Filipinos Cebuana Lhuillier options that go towards achieving financial inclusion,” he added.
For his part, Juan Carlos L. Syquia, Executive Vice President and Head of Institutional Banking of BPI, said, “We at BPI are truly ecstatic with this partnership with Cebuana Lhuillier as it aligns with our vision of building a better Philippines – one family, one community at a time.”
“This entails continuously looking for innovative solutions and alternative avenues to expand and develop in order to bank the unbanked and contribute to a nation that is financially inclusive. We are happy to collaborate with Cebuana Lhuillier in making this aspiration a reality, and we look forward to forging many more of these efforts in the future,” he added.
Both parties also expressed confidence that the collaboration would be instrumental in making financial inclusion a reality for millions of Filipinos.
Cebuana Lhuillier is currently the biggest and most prominent provider of micro-financial services in the country with more than 3,000 branches throughout the archipelago, with 500 more branches set to open before the year ends.
On top of these branches, Cebuana now also has a network of 25,000 domestic partners nationwide and 1.7 million international partner doors for its money transfer business.