TUESDAY, 01 NOVEMBER 2011 19:46 JUN VALLECERA / REPORTER
THE Cebuana Lhuillier brand, increasingly known more for its remittance
business than for the pawnshops it has built over the years, seeks to
strengthen its franchise by moving much of the services from its
bricks-and-mortar units at present to the mobile phone platform very soon.
The shift, PJ Lhuillier Services Corp. president and chief executive
officer Jean Henri D. Lhuiller said in an interview, should help the
company achieve greater efficiency and a larger share of the remittance
market down the line.
Already, he said, the company asked the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to
permit it to extend a number of financial services in the manner first
exploited by rivals Globe Telecom and Smart Communications with their
GCash and Smart Money brands.
"Once we get the license from the BSP, our clients will be able to do a
number of transactions via their cellular phones," Lhuillier said.
For now, Cebuana Lhuillier clients have to satisfy themselves with what
is possible under a recently forged agreement with the home grown mobile
phone maker My/Phone, such as inquiries on loan status or schedule,
inquiries on remittance rates, top up phone credits or load, bills
payments including tuition on two local colleges for the moment or make
premium payments for insurance, donate to a charity or pay for online
purchases.
But with the BSP license, Cebuana Lhuillier may act as payout agent for
a number of remittance companies besides the one it is operating.
According to Lhuillier, the mobile phone component should complement the
services it has forged with Zoom Technologies which have been providing
them with the telecommunications products they need in the internet
space for maybe three years now.
"So all of these services should be available both online and in the
form of SMS," Lhuillier said.
He related PJCS once tried to forge a partnership with the Philippine
Postal Corp. and mine its wealth of relationships with more than 1,000
local government units across the country.
The intent was to boost the state-owned firm's snail mail services with
new technology solutions such as had been done by the Land Bank of the
Philippines in recently partnering with a privately-held postal
corporation in Japan.
"We tried to do that here but have not been successful. Privately held
couriers are easier to deal with than state-owned," Lhuillier said.
The Land Bank model seeks to tap the remittance potential of rural
Japan-based overseas Filipinos who often have to travel hours or leave
work temporarily to get to a remittance office.
Privately-owned postal units in Japan could be everywhere in that
country and remain open on a 24/7 basis.
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