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4 Eurogiro News
An unusual cooperation pays off
A new corridor of financial transactions opened between Italy and Senegal in 2011. The new corridor
is the result of a unique approach to marketing towards ethnic communities by two Eurogiro members,
Postefinances Senegal and Poste Italiane. Both organisations, as well as their clients, have benefited
from the initiative
On 12 September 2011, a group of six people
from Postefinances Senegal began a tour
which included more than 15 cities in Italy,
starting in Milan, visiting Senegalese communi-
ties and arranging discussion forums. In the
delegation was a famous journalist from Sene-
galese TV and the tour had been preceded
by a two-month communication campaign on
Senegalese Radio. The story told was about
the benefits of escaping the risks of informal
channels (travelling with cash), while paying
the lowest charges in the market and being
able to access modern financial services. Cli-
ents were encouraged to use the cash-to-cash
or cash-to-account services by Poste Italiane
for pay-out in Senegal. Postefinances, Sene-
gal topped the campaign by offering accounts
with them on attractive conditions. Accounts
would enable future account transfers from
Italy to Senegal where charges are much lower
than is the norm for cash pay-outs. Further-
more, these accounts would give access to bill
payments and other financial services which
would increase the value of the money for
account holders and their local communities.
Background
Every day, Senegalese people send more than
3 million EUR home to Senegal from abroad.
Much of this money used to go via informal
channels; very little was managed via financial
institutions. Ensuring secure transfers and
financial products for these citizens was the
main goal behind this initiative for Postefinan-
ces Senegal, and a manifestation of an overall
strategic objective to foster financial inclusion in
the country.
The largest Senegalese population outside
Senegal is in Italy and, with Postefinances Se-
negal, and Poste Italiane both being members
of Eurogiro, the idea of a cooperation and
thereby offer a payment and banking service to
these clients came naturally during the Eurogiro
community meeting in May 2011. By using
Eurogiro as a carrier and building their own
services from the Eurogiro products, the two
posts could offer money transfers to the public,
saving clients between 37% to 72% (account
to account) of the costs of similar services,
depending on the type of product and amount.
Planning and lessons
The first step was to finalise a cooperation
agreement between Poste Italiane and Senegal
Post. This was signed in September 2011, in
the presence of the Press, Senegalese asso-
ciations and the Senegalese Ambassador. The
agreement covers common campaigns towards
Senegalese communities and a variety of ser-
vices such as International Money Transfers,
pre-paid cards, mobile payments and e-wallets,
and micro payments.
The next step was to plan the campaign and
define the services. The tour itself lasted two
weeks and offered services at special cam-
paign rates.
“We will undertake another campaign and a
tour in Italy later in 2012” says General Director
of Senegal Post, Mr El Hadji Mansour Guèye
“because we have seen that we have a very
attractive offer for Senegalese people who
wish to send money back to their country.
Both the remitter and the beneficiary benefit
from the security and the cost savings we can
offer. And we take advantage of our Eurogiro
membership.”
The project also revealed a few challenges
to tackle in the future: the lack of a common
product label (Eurogiro is not a product brand),
the lack of a permanent Senegal Post repre-
sentation in Italy, the alignment of systems and
processes, and finally how to secure effective
support to the Senegalese communities
abroad.
More than 2000 migrants were reached, and
600 accounts were opened during the tour.
A remittance corridor between the two coun-
tries was opened within a short time and the
two postal organisations gained very valuable
experience which can be used to open other
corridors. Senegal Post intends to have similar
corridor marketing projects with partners in, for
instance, France, Spain and Morocco.
3
Mr Guèye (to the right), General Director
at Postfinances Senegal, at a market in a
suburb of Milan, with Mr Wade from the
national Senegalese TV and a colleague
from the campaign sales team
Senegal
>
Senegalese workers abroad send
more than 3 million € home every day
>
10% of the population held
accounts in 2011
>
Informal channels are very common
>
240 Post offices/contact points,
200,000 Accounts
Senegal Post is committed to support
financial inclusion.
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