Barbara Ellington, Lifestyle EditorBURLINGTON, ONTARIO:
WHEN THE National Commercial Bank (NCB) launched its remittance arm, Senvia Money Services (SMS) in August the mandate from Group Chairman Michael Lee-Chin was to be catalyst for change in the industry, "don't duplicate the others, create our own sandbox." Two and a half years later, the company is slowly fulfilling its mandate.
The president of SMS, Nigel Gray, told The Gleaner in an interview at AIC last Thursday that the company is ahead of projected growth with many more improvements to come. "We are a new and vibrant competitor," he said. He leads a team of 11 out of the AIC Funds Management headquarters in Burlington, Canada.
The relatively quick success of SMS is due largely to its flat fee model compared to other such services that have a tiered fee structure in which the fees for remitting funds increases, the larger the sum being sent. Senvia's fees remain at Cdn$7.00 per transaction. From the United States the fee is US$5.00 per transaction while it is UK5 pound sterling from Britain for the first 1,000 pounds sent, going up by 5 pounds for every additional 1,000 pounds sent. Because of this, said Gray, the saving to the customer is enormous.
It's premature to say the extent of Senvia's market penetration to date but Mr. Gray and his team are happy with the growth that is ahead of projected targets. There are plans in the works to "put it over the top."
"We are a new and vibrant competitor. If you are already the dominant player there is no advantage for you to lower your prices; however in some markets competition lowers prices," he noted.
SMS has distribution relationships in Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, The Philippines, The United Kingdom, The Cayman Islands, Trinidad, St. Vincent. This means someone in Canada can send money to any of these countries.
Remittances from Canada to the United Kingdom will come on stream in the next quarter. "We have looked at the demand from the payout side especially for parents who want to send money to children overseas and will be providing that service too," he said.
Having put the operational platform on solid footing and crossed language barriers, passed the pilot stage, understanding market needs and ensuring that their compliance system is as robust as their competitors', Senvia is now in business development mode.
The United States Senvia is aware of the large segment of Jamaican population in New York and are now looking at opportunities to enter this important market. "It was not the place to cut our teeth," Gray admitted.
Senvia is also prepared to offer customers increased hours and days of service in Jamaica outside of the bank network and ATMs for account holders. "We are looking at and prepared for innovative uses of stored value card provided we get approval of the regulatory framework to support it," Mr. Gray told the Gleaner.
SMS and AIC are proud of the relationship they enjoy with the Jamaican farm workers who currently number approximately 6,500. They have set up a scholarship programme and adopted a schools in the Jamaican communities from which most of these workers come.
