Casablanca - known as the biggest city and
port in Morocco or even more likely, the set for Humphrey Bogart
and Ingrid Bergman's love story. Too bad Rick's Café didn't really
exist, because I would have liked to sit there and listen to Sam
(Dooley Wilson) playing As Time Goes By. But
that's me, Corina and Dan did not go there for the romance of
it :)
Cause on the 15th of February
this year, no more than 70 years after Bogart coined the now famous
phrase "Here's looking at you kid", Casablanca was the host
for SWIFTRemit Business
Day.
Corina and Dan were there, to share about
the unique channel to rapidly expand remittances services, about
the value and challenges of SWIFTRemit, about remittances trends
and challenges in Africa, about innovation in this area and to
listen to insights from banks like Caixabank or Attijariwafa. They
were also there to talk during the Implementation and integration
options sessions, about Allevo's product qPI-Remit .
For those of you not familiar with this
product, just a very brief note: qPI-Remit, based on SEPAReady
certified qPayIntegrator, is an
end-to-end remittance processing solution, dealing with the
collection, processing and distribution of remittances. It started
quite an interest, as during the breaks my colleagues were busy
answering questions, providing additional information and showing
demos.
A few general info facts mentioned
during the presentations: the last count of worldwide migrants
accounted for sums up 250 million people, with transfers in 2010 of
456 billion USD (in Morocco the value raised up to 10% of GDP,
summing around 6.9 billion USD). There are some issues in Africa
due to huge costs (a medium of 19 USD for 200 USD transferred),
reduced competition (90% MTOs - Money Transfer Operators, 2.4%
banks and 7.6% postal offices), exclusivity (Nigeria has banned the
introduction of exclusivity clauses).
Over all, the agenda was interesting and
well structured and the event very well organized, enjoying the
participation of over 70 attendees. Both Corina and Dan, were very
impressed with the organizer's courtesy and attention, and felt
like the entire event had an "open for collaboration" aura, between
different vendors, between vendors and banks. We hope we'll enjoy
the same friendly atmosphere in Dubai as well. And even more,
qPI-Remit made new acquaintances.
So, let's hope this is the beginning of a beautiful
friendship.