Yesterday, MoneyGram International Inc. (MGI) announced the expansion of its money transfer network in Venezuela by allying with two of the five leading foreign currency exchanges – Casa de Cambio Angulo Lopez and Venegiros Casa de Cambio.
Earlier, the company had already added another leading exchange agent – Italcambio. Thus, combined with the latest addition, MoneyGram has now attained 100 agent locations in Venezuela. Overall, MoneyGram has a global network of more than 267,000 agent locations in about 192 countries, which primarily include retailers, international post offices and financial institutions.
Venezuela continues to be an active remittance hub that receives an estimated $1.2 million and sends about $812 million annually, aiding over 2 million immigrants in the region. Most of the money transfer in Venezuela is made to countries like the US, UK, Italy, Spain, Columbia, China, Peru, Ecuador and Portugal.
Hence, the company is in the process of evolving advanced ways of consolidating in Venezuela. This also explains and justifies the company’s alliance with the top foreign currency exchanges in the region that will also complement Venezuela’s remittance market to explore globally through MoneyGram’s money transfer platform.
Meanwhile, money transfer business remains the driving force for MoneyGram, which has been spreading its money transfer business across the globe through various recognized financial institutions. Besides, MoneyGram is also enhancing its brand awareness by developing user-friendly payment solutions that suit the new market trends. With regard to this growth strategy, the company also plans to expand its cash-to-account service to additional banks as well as add new online services.
Furthermore, MoneyGram continues to explore new growth avenues in untested locations by incorporating latest and flexible technology that facilitates transfers through mobile phones, prepaid cards or ATMs, in order to speed up its money transfer services and enhance the remittance volumes. These efforts also help to retain the company’s competitive vigour, particularly against the steady global growth of its arch-rival Western Union Co. (WU).
Going ahead, MoneyGram is slated to release its first quarter results before the market opens on April 26, 2012, whereby the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at 20 cents per share, up about 112% over prior-year period. The company carries a Zacks Rank #3, which translates into a short-term Hold rating and a long-term Neutral stance.
MONEYGRAM INTL (MGI): Free Stock Analysis Report
WESTERN UNION (WU): Free Stock Analysis Report
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