VM, RIA partner on remittances
Published:Friday | September 10, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Victoria Mutual Money Transfer Services Limited (VMTS) has signed on as a partner with RIA Financial Services, a European-owned remittance operation with global reach, hoping to leverage new business from Jamaicans spread across markets in North America and the United Kingdom.
VMTS already has a presence in those markets but expects RIA's more expansive network and points of contact to favour growth in transactions.
The agreement gives RIA another 34 points of distribution for inbound remittances to Jamaica.
"RIA's presence throughout the key Jamaican sending markets in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, along with RIA's rapidly growing network of more than 100,000 locations in 121 countries, will enable Victoria Mutual to extend its reach to Jamaicans throughout the world," said Allan Lewis, senior vice-president for group strategy in the Victoria Mutual group, in a jointly issued statement announcing the deal.
RIA Financial Services, run by President and CEO Juan Bianchi, touts itself as the world's third-largest money-transfer business.
It's a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide Inc.
The company, operational since 1987, built a worldwide distri-bution network for consumer to consumer transfers through a global network of agents and its own stores.
VMTS, as well as other remittance companies in Jamaica, also has an alliance with Xoom.com, through which it offers online money-transfer transactions.
Through Xoom, VMTS said its reach extends to 38 markets.