Ten postal operators from Spain and Latin America have signed an agreement to improve electronic money transfers.
Following a successful project launched in 2008 between the Spanish, Chilean and Uruguayan Posts, the Posts of Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Dominican Republic are today joining the initiative.
The Posts will use the application International Financial System (IFS), developed by the UPU’s Postal Technology Centre in Berne, to join the worldwide financial network managed by the UN specialized agency for postal services.
Over the next few months, the signatory Posts will be able to offer citizens a secure and easily accessible money transfer service through their post offices.
The express international service is called Correogiros. Posts promise a 15-minute service at affordable rates.
Strategic
The Spanish minister of development, José Blanco, and the UPU’s director general, Edouard Dayan, presided over the signature of the agreement last Friday in Madrid.
Dayan said he was delighted with the role the UPU played in bringing together these Posts around a strategic partnership concluded in 2007 with the Spanish government.
“It is in this way that the Universal Postal Union must go forward, by involving governments that make strategic choices for the postal sector and join us on ambitious and concrete projects,” he said.
According to Minister Blanco, “Posts, far from remaining impassive to the increasing use of electronic communication among people, are offering new and better services. The innovation and cooperation that characterize this project show a commitment for the future of public services.”
Internationally, money transfers involve various stakeholders, including international organizations, governments and postal operators, added Dayan. “We find here all the partners, united around an integrated approach to provide the Spain-Latin American corridor with a new opportunity for facilitating money transfers through a service that is reliable, accessible to all without discrimination, secure and affordable.”
In 2009, remittances worth an estimated 58.4 billion dollars were sent to the Latin American and Caribbean region, according to World Bank data.
More than one million citizens from the nine Latin American countries that signed the agreement live in Spain, especially Ecuadorians, Dominicans, Colombians and Argentineans.
The new service will facilitate exchanges between Spain and the nine Latin American countries, but also facilitate interregional exchanges, which are also important.
Spain will offer the service in its 2,300 post offices.