Money transfer competition heats up
- new service, lower rates
By Nicosia Smith
Stabroek News
April 23, 2004
Another money transfer agency was launched yesterday offering competitive rates for remittances.
Samso's Express Money Transfer has been operating in Guyana since November but on a small scale.
Hussein Haniff, president of Samso's, in a pre-launch interview said Samso's is serving an under-served and over-priced market.
Unlike the recently launched Caribcash and Uno money transfer group, Samso's did not conduct a market survey but Haniff feels that his personal knowledge and statistics commissioned by organisations such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) gives him a good grasp of the market.
Quantified annual remittances to Guyana are US$250M according to USAID, but USAID officials have noted that it is still unknown how much money actually comes to Guyana. Government officials have called these figures highly inflated.
Samso's, the new money transfer agency, will be operating out of the Mohamed's Cambio (Chester Fried) building, in Regent Street.
Within a year Samso's hopes to capture 5% of the market and within the next 3 to 5 years, a 20% share.
Haniff graduated from the University of Minnesota University with a degree in accountancy and is a certified public accountant bringing 14 years experience in senior positions at the Bank of America in North Carolina. He was also the Vice Chairman at Laparkan Group of Companies from 1995 to 2001.
"I am uniquely qualified to do this business... it is second nature," he says.
Rates
To send money with Samso's costs US$8 for up to US$100 and an additional US$5 for every other US$100 thereafter. For example, above US$101 to US$200 is US$13 and above US$201 to US$300 is US$18.
"Our agents will even deliver at 10 o'clock [at nights]," says Haniff, adding that they do deliver depending on the circumstances.
The foreign exchange rate is G$198 to one US dollar.
Some of Samso's competitors are Caribcash powered by Uno where rates are US$10 to send US$100; from US$101 to US$300 - US$15 and from US$301 and more, the fee is calculated between 4.5 to 6 per cent.
National Pride's rates are US$8 to send US$100 and US$8 on every additional US$100 being sent.
Western Union's rates are US$14 to send US$100; US$21 to send US$200 and this increases by US$7 for every additional US$100 sent. The US$7 being charged by Western Union to send every additional US$100 may not apply to certain large amounts being sent.
Locations
Pay out locations in Guyana are Mohamed's Cambio, at Regent Street, Robbstown; Caribbean Cargo and Packaging, on High Street; Uncle Bugs Air Cargo on Croal Street; A.Ally and Sons in New Amsterdam/Corriverton; Imran and Son Variety Store in Rosehall; Fazal Habibulla - Chester Fried Restaurant in Bush Lot; Face to Face Internet Cafe in Linden and Tamesh Tagmohan at Hampton Court.
Overseas transfer locations are in Jamaica, Queens and Brooklyn, New York. In the next six to nine months 25 agents will be located in the New York area. Presently there are nine locations there.
Samso's money transfer agency was registered in Florida in 2001, and is licensed to operate in seven US states (Florida, Texas, Georgia, California, New York, Arizona and Minnesota).
The transfer company's home office is located in Plantation, Florida and has its operations centre in Los Angeles, California where 12 persons are employed.
This company is 100% owned by Haniff and according to him, is the only Guyanese-owned company in the US that is licensed to conduct money transfers. Other money transfer agencies operating in Guyana generally team-up with licensed money transfer agents in the US.
India and Mexico are the two largest recipients of remittances from the US, with US$10B and US$9.9B respectively, annually, according to the World Bank.
Samso's has 6000 distribution centres in Mexico. The company also has distribution centres in Jamaica, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Haiti, Panama and El Salvador.
"This business is a very large business, Guyana is a very small part of [our] operations," says Haniff.