Remittance in the Philippines marks its all time high (ATH) in 2017. According to the report released by Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) remittances has reached 31.29 Billion USD, the country’s second largest source of foreign exchange, next to the revenues from the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
Recognizing the demand to revolutionize remittance in the Philippines, Ant Financial Services an Affiliate of Alibaba Groups of Company in China, in partnership with CK Hutchison Holdings in Hong Kong and GCash of Globe Telecom Inc of the Philippines, launched the Blockchain based money remittance system to cater the needs of Filipinos on 25th June 2018 in Hong Kong.
While the Philippines is the third-largest remittance market in the world, Filipinos in Hong Kong is one of the largest foreign communities in the city-state according to the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, and most importantly, “Hong Kong is an international financial centre in Asia, and it is most fitting that Ant Financial has chosen to kick off this pilot project right here,” said the city’s financial secretary Paul Chan Mo-po during the launching.
With the blockchain-based remittance service powered by Alipay, sending money will be done at competitive exchange rates, lower transaction fees and in real time. In fact, the initial remittance during the launching was completed in under three seconds.
In an interview, Jack Ma, a multinational technology conglomerate, and founder of Alibaba group, said that this project has been his long-cherished dreams to cut remittance cost.
“This comes from a promise I made a long time ago when Alipay was just launched. I have friends who are Filipino and they asked me when they could use Alipay to send money home because it was too expensive through banks, which charge too much,” said Jack Ma quoted in a South China Morning Post.
According to Ant Financial, this initiative is the first of its kind to introduce a blockchain-based money remittance service technology in the world. “Thought the project is accessible for Hong-Kong Philippines and Philippines Hong-Kong only at the moment, but eventually the technology will be available worldwide,” Ant Financial clarified.
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 between Hongkong and the Philippines. This initiative was spearheaded by Ant Financial Services an Affiliate of Alibaba Groups of Company in China, in partnership with CK Hutchison Holdings, Hong Kong and GCash of Globe Telecom Inc of the Philippines.){kind=link}