Smart Communications wants to put up money transfer firm

Smart Communications Inc. wants to tie up with American mobile roaming solutions firm Roamware for an international mobile financial firm.
Smart, the mobile phone operator of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Roamware to "leverage existing network infrastructure, resources, expertise and international reach, to make mobile money transfers available to mobile operators and financial institutions around the world."
Under the MOU, Smart and Roamware will explore opportunities to deploy the former's Smart Services Hub across Roamware's own delivery platforms that are linked with more than 350 mobile network operators in over 130 countries worldwide.
Smart Services Hub is a telecommunications service solution developed by Smart, based on the capabilities and features of Smart Money, an electronic platform for remittance and financial services and products.
"We are pleased to combine Smart's wide network of bank and fulfillment partners with Roamware's global reach and technology to develop an alternative mobile remittance corridor that is reliable and convenient," said Orlando Vea, Smart's chief wireless services advisor.
Vea said the mobile money transfer service is seen to become a primary remittance channel for overseas Filipino workers sending money to their loved ones in the Philippines and the rest of the world.
Smart estimated the total current volume of international remittances at around $300 billion, and this is expected to grow threefold by 2010.-abs-cbnnews.com