iRemit to expand in Australia & Nigeria

I-Remit, the country's largest Filipino-owned non-bank remittance company, is gearing up for a major expansion with new branch offices in Australia and Nigeria.

iRemit president and chief operating officer Harris Jacildo said the company is eyeing to penetrate the OFW market in Nigeria, whose oil producing companies are the biggest employers of Filipinos working in Africa. "With the price of oil at its all-time high, the source of revenue of Filipinos in Nigeria cannot be underestimated," said Jacildo.

Jacildo said the Australian branch office, located in Liverpool, New South Wales, is expected to open on Dec. 15. It will cater to the Filipino communities within the surrounding suburbs of Sydney.

Liverpool has become a major commercial center of South West Sydney and has the second biggest concentration of Filipinos in the New South Wales province in Australia – next to Blacktown.

There are around 165,000 Filipinos in Australia, 75,000 of whom are in New South Wales. Ninety percent of the Filipino migrants live in the Greater Sydney area.

The new branch is just 30 minutes from the central business district of Sydney along Bigge Street in Liverpool, Sydney. It is positioned strategically right in front of the Liverpool train station. It is also expected to serve the money transfer needs of Filipinos within the contiguous suburbs of Campbelltown, Casula, Ingleburn, and Minto.

"With the company's strengths in its 24-hour bank-to-bank service transactions and remittance via the Visa debit card, iRemit continuously aims to provide a faster, more efficient and reliable service to Filipinos at very competitive service fees," said Jacildo.

iRemit has a growing network with presence in 25 countries across North America, Europe, Australia, the Pacific Isles and the Middle East.

iRemit also offers different modes of services such as door-to door, notify and pay, and payments for Social Security System (SSS) soon to be online crediting, Pag-Ibig, Philhealth, property developers, and other collection partners.

To assure the delivery of first-class remittance services, iRemit has set up its own customer service center that operates on a 24/7 mode to provide the needed assistance to remitters and their beneficiaries, anytime.

iRemit is part of the Tiu Group that has investments in a range of industries from banking, real estate, manufacturing, and hotel and resort operations. Among these are publicly-listed TKC Steel Corp., Sterling Bank of Asia, the Discovery chain of small luxury hotels, the Mansions Group of serviced apartments, and Kent Vinyl Tiles.