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Eurogiro News 5
Lithuania Post becomes new member of Eurogiro
On 1 January 2012 Lithuania Post became a member of Eurogiro. Lithuania Post plans to
launch its remittance service via Eurogiro by April 2012
Lithuania Post is a state-owned public limited
company, being the universal postal service
provider in Lithuania. With a network of almost
840 access points, Lithuania Post is the
largest postal operator in the Baltic countries.
Each month the services offered by the team
of professionals are used by nearly a third
of the total population, i.e. about 800,000
customers.
With the introduction of innovative manage-
ment solutions the company offers postal,
courier, logistics, electronic, and a variety
of financial services including domestic and
cross-border money orders, admission of
payments for utility bills, admission of fees
and charges, granting consumer credits, COD
and distribution of government savings notes.
In order to meet the growing needs of its
customers, the company is able to expand
its range of financial services by joining the
Eurogiro network. Lithuania Post plans to
launch the remittance service via the Eurogiro
network in April 2012. Initially transfers for
outgoing and incoming payments would be
provided in 157 rural and 215 urban post
offices. By the end of the current year, the
service would be available in almost 600
access points.
The new service is expected to gain in popu-
larity among the citizens of Lithuania currently
residing and working in a number of Western
and Eastern European countries. The service
provides affordable and reliable international
money transfers and will be highly beneficial
to families that need to provide support to their
family members staying abroad or waiting for
them at home.
According to estimations by Lithuanian banks,
money transfers received in Lithuania during
the last year amounted to more than 1.19 bil-
lion euros. This equates to almost one quarter
of the net salary fund paid within the country.
For inbound flows, which tend to increase
each year, the majority of transactions origi-
nate from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain,
the United States of America, Poland and
Germany. The trends show a growing demand
for money transfer services from Norway and
Sweden. For growing outbound flows, the
main destinations are the United Kingdom,
Ukraine, the USA, China, and Germany.
Lithuania Post believes its membership within
the Eurogiro network will enable it to moder-
nise the services it provides to its customers
and bring new business to its wide network of
post offices.
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volume exchanged via Eurogiro is either
Western Union transactions or exchanged
via the SWIFT connection. I believe that
partnerships will become even more impor-
tant in the future.
Swiss Post PostFinance has been very active
in both Eurogiro and the UPU over time. The
two organisations recently signed an agree-
ment to link their networks. How do you see
the potential of this for members of the two
organisations?
The UPU-Eurogiro link is a step towards
closer collaboration and partnership. Both
institutions serve the postal sector and need
to provide the best service to their customers.
The link has potential, not only in terms of
transactions, but also as regards tightening
the exchange of knowledge between the
two institutions. It is important to maintain a
structure that is open towards the payment
industry and adheres to industry standards.
Today, the strongest growth in business is in
Asia, how do you see Eurogiro best positio-
ning itself to take a role in this development?
Times have changed dramatically over the
last decade in the payments business in
Europe. The single currency, with no FX and
SEPA rules, had an enormous impact on
how we do business today. What we learn
along the way – like high STP rates – can be
adapted to the Asian market to some extent,
and Eurogiro can support this. However, from
a European perspective we have to be aware
that there is not just one Asia and that the
huge continent has its own dynamics.
Eurogiro’s footprint in Asia is important to
further growth in other areas of the world.
The payments industry is developing rapidly
with much competition from known and new
types of providers. How do you see the role
and opportunities for, in particular, postal
organisations in this market?
Postal organisations have the luxury of
providing the greatest potential: they have
infrastructures that span countries, a huge
customer base and are often already active in
the financial market. At PostFinance we are
investing in the mobile business. A couple of
years ago we could not have imagined what
we would be able to do with smartphones to-
day. I believe that postal organisations should
not hide from competitors but seek out new
opportunities and possibilities.
Finally, how would you like to influence the
future Eurogiro?
Today’s supervisory boards have to contend
with a host of new pressures, challenges
and risks. We are held accountable for the
company’s performance and vitality. We must
set its strategic direction, often across diverse
product markets and geographies, and moni-
tor Eurogiro’s risk profile. Corporate gover-
nance and the evaluation of the performance
of management and the company is a task of
the Board. I would like to work together with
my board colleagues in an open spirit to ad-
dress these tasks. We have to move towards
a more virtual Eurogiro – less technology and
connection driven to more community and
partnership driven aspects. In addition, we
must think outside the box for new ideas in
the payment industry. I look forward to taking
up my role and contributing to the future of
Eurogiro.
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