By The American and world-renowned financial services company – Western Union recently joined forces with Coins.ph, a Philippines-based e-wallet service provider to enable Filipinos with the ability to conduct cross-border money transactions. The partnership was first announced in a press release on April 3.
The collaboration will see Western Union integrate the Coins.ph blockchain-based platform into its cross-border platform, thus enabling users in the Philippines to receive international remittances directly into their Coins.ph wallets.
Prior to this new collaborative service, users allegedly had to register for their Coins.ph wallets, provide valid identification documents and also pass stringent electronic Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures. Furthermore, the press release also states that Coins.ph limits consumer wallet capacity to 100,000 Philippines pesos per month which is roughly around $1.907.
As per a report from the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Brief 30, the Philippines represent one of the leading remittance-receiving nations in the world. Over $34 billion worth of remittances flowed into the country in 2018. In addition to this, the release also states that over five million Filipinos make use of the Coins.ph wallet and Western Union has over 12,000 agent locations scattered across the country.
Just last month, Western Union also teamed up with Stellar (XLM) collaborator Thunes in order to enable the company’s clients with the ability to transfer assets directly to mobile wallets globally. Western Union stated that this added functionality is in an effort to drive financial inclusion globally by creating ease of access for the underbanked as well as anyone that might not be supported by traditional financial services.
On the other side of the globe, the central banks of Thailand and Myanmar recently endorsed the Ethereum (ETH) based remittance system which was developed by Everex, a blockchain company. The governor of Thailand’s Central Bank, Veerathai Santiprabhob reportedly stated that “this project is an important step forward for the more than 3 million workers in Thailand who might have so far used not secured channels.”
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