Eurogiro Asia Pacific representation since 2007 - Retrospect
Eurogiro has concentrated much of its efforts in the recent years in the Asia Pacific region and as the Eurogiro company celebrates its 20th anniversary, the Eurogiro Pacific office in Singapore celebrates its 5th anniversary.
The Eurogiro office in Singapore was established to provide regional support to Asia Pacific members, and further develop business in the region. In 2011 Eurogiro re-established the Singapore office as a branch of Eurogiro A/S.
Five years on, Eurogiro has a greater understanding of the market dynamics in the region. In-country meetings, as well as participating in many banking, payment and postal conferences and forums, has created a greater awareness of Eurogiro's capabilities and expanded current and prospective relationships.
The Eurogiro Asia Pacific Customer Council was launched in 2008, which created an advisory council of senior representatives from Eurogiro member organisations to ensure that regional needs are met. An Asia Pacific regional meeting in 2010 in New Delhi, and another in 2012 in Tokyo, further enhanced member engagement and business relationships, providing a forum for members and prospective members focused on the Asia Pacific region to meet.
Eurogiro has especially built a strong relationship with APPU (Asia Pacific Postal Union) and its members through the years by participating as an observer at the annual Executive Committee meetings and speaking at the Postal Financial Services Committee meeting. Through sponsporship and participation at the annual Postal Financial Services course conducted by APPC in Bangkok, Eurogiro has engaged with postal administrations at many levels to share best practices and keep abreast of postal trends and issues.
Key factors to successful business growth for Eurogiro in the region
The teamwork approach with existing Eurogiro members to open new payment corridors and attract new members has been pivotal to success in the region. Japan Post Bank, the first member in the region now connects with over 40 members across the Eurogiro community, and has been a consistent supporter through its senior level commitment, engagement through the Eurogiro Asia Pacific Council and events such as the recent Eurogiro Community Meeting in Tokyo.
Going forward, new payment channels such as mobile and card are expected to see accelerated growth in the region. Overall it remains the Eurogiro model that uniquely brings together the largest community of postal administrations, post banks, banks and other financial service providers for the exchange of low-value cross-border payments that continues to attract new members to the network.
Challenges to grow Eurogiro business in the Asia Pacific region
Many of the attractive growth areas in the Asia Pacific region are developing countries. The country's legal infrastructure, the regulations specifically covering international payments, and in some cases the national payment systems, are not always as well established compared to more developed nations, all of which can create challenges.
On an organisational level, postal organisations in the Asia Pacific region are at different stages of development in terms of their strategic focus on international payments. However, it is encouraging to see the increased level of IT, staff and marketing investment by Eurogiro members over the past few years.
Prospect on payment volume growth in the region over the next 5 years
Growth in the Asia Pacific region will be driven by a number of factors, especially the continuing overall economic growth and new wealth creation in the region. According to McKinsey, Asia will account for two thirds of global growth over the next five years, reaching 40% of global payment revenues by 2015. China, Japan and Korea are the largest markets, whilst China, India and Indonesia are the fastest growing markets for payment business.
According to the World Bank, six of the top 10 receiving countries for remittances are in the Asia Pacific region. India is the largest, with an estimated inflow of USD 70 billion in 2012; the other top countries include China (#2), Philippines (#4), Pakistan (#7), Bangladesh (#8), and Vietnam (#9).
Eurogiro's corridor marketing approach will continue to focus on intra-regional payment flows, as well as engaging new members outside the region that represent large sending payment flows into the region.
In countries which are large geographically, there is a great deal of migration from rural to city areas in search of work and higher wages. So it is not surprising that postal organisations in the Asia Pacific region are placing greater focus on migrant worker payments - both domestic and international payments - as a means of serving the community and building on a financial inclusion agenda.
Impact of the Asia Pacific membership on the development of the community
The entry of new members over the past 5 years including India Post, Vietnam Post, Land Bank of the Philippines and Bangladesh Post will continue to bring increased payment volume across the entire Eurogiro global community.
Eurogiro members in the region continue to expand their offering through Eurogiro services, such as the settlement services - USSP and ESSP, the MultiLateral Framework and ECI®, which also enhance the ease of conducting payments business.
It is especially important to consider the regional demographic differences in the business planning, which in many developing countries includes a younger population, the shift from a largely cash-based unbanked population to use of more sophisticated financial services, and the fast adoption of technology.
Eurogiro is poised to further develop the growth potential in Asia Pacific to contribute to the long-term, profitable and sustainable business for the entire Eurogiro community of global members.