The innovative partnership brings seamless connectivity and improved convenience for international money transfers
Leading microfinance services provider Cebuana Lhuillier continues its foray into innovation and fintech as it announces its recent integration into the Stellar blockchain network. This partnership reinforces its venture into block-chain based payment services.
The partnership with the Stellar network allows customers to receive cross-border remittance payments almost instantly and more conveniently at more than 3,000 Cebuana Lhuillier branches across the Philippines.
This new setup is a blockchain-powered alternative to traditional remittance flows, which typically come with long waits for users, and heavy capital requirements that limit scale and liquidity for Money Transfer Operators (MTOs). The alternative significantly alleviates the challenges faced by MTOs by allowing them to settle payments immediately instead of after days via traditional fiat rails.
This is encouraging news for the millions of Filipinos working overseas who rely on remittance companies like Cebuana Lhuillier to send support to their families in the Philippines. Currently, the Philippines remains one of the top five recipient countries for money remittances, with millions of Overseas Filipino Workers spread out across the globe, forming a key part of a $31 billion-dollar industry.
“Cebuana Lhuillier has always stood by its mission of providing financial inclusion to Filipinos, and that includes the millions of Overseas Filipino Workers, considered modern-day heroes, who toil away overseas in order to provide a better future for their families. Our integration with the Stellar network is part of Cebuana Lhuillier’s constant innovation of its tried-and-tested financial services, all for the purpose of making it easier, more convenient, and more cost-effective for recipients in the Philippines to instantly receive their remittances from abroad,” shared Jean Henri Lhuillier, Cebuana Lhuillier president and CEO.
The Stellar network is a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network for financial products and services. This integration with Stellar is part of Cebuana Lhuillier’s move towards further exploration of fintech in order to increase the efficiency and convenience of its services.
“As Cebuana Lhuillier joins the Stellar ecosystem, a powerful route for affordable and instant
remittances emerges in the Philippines,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation. “Together, we are improving the global financial system by bringing more equitable access to critical markets. Stellar is the network built for payments around the world and this is a step in fulfilling our mission.”
“This integration with Stellar is just one of the many initiatives of Cebuana Lhuillier. We are setting our sights on ensuring a seamless transfer between the offline and online channels for the business and putting systems in place that focus on convenience, accessibility, and efficiency. Our goal is to ensure that every Ka-Cebuana will be able to seamlessly send and receive money via Cebuana Lhuillier, anytime, anywhere, everywhere—whether via physical transactions or through their mobile phones,” added Erl Sumanga, General Manager and Head for Cebuana Lhuillier’s Money Transfers Business.
About Cebuana Lhuillier
P.J. Lhuillier, Inc. (PJLI) is the proud parent company of Cebuana Lhuillier, the Philippines’ largest microfinancial services provider that offers pawning, remittance, micro insurance, bills payment, e- load, business-to-business solutions services, and micro savings and other banking services through their banking arm, the Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank. For more than 30 years, Cebuana Lhuillier continuously provides fast, easy, secure, and convenient microfinancial products and services to more than 30 million customers through over 3,000 branches nationwide. The company has also expanded its services into the digital space through the eCebuana App, a product of the Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank, and a host of other financial platforms such as Cebuana From Home, ProtectNow.com and the Cebuana Lhuillier Jewelry website.
About Stellar
Stellar is a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network for financial products and services. It is both a cross-currency transaction system and a platform for digital asset issuance, designed to connect the world’s financial infrastructure. Dozens of financial institutions worldwide issue assets and settle payments on the Stellar network, which has grown to over 7 million accounts. For more information, visit stellar.org.
About the Stellar Development Foundation
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world’s financial infrastructure.
Founded in 2014, the Foundation helps maintain Stellar’s codebase, supports the technical and business communities building on the network, and serves as a voice to regulators and institutions. The Foundation seeks to create equitable access to the global financial system, using the Stellar network to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology. For more information, visit stellar.org/foundation.
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