MONEYGRAM Services has inked a deal with the Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) after losing its agent relationship with the National Commercial Bank (NCB) last year.

The partnership means that VMBS now has access to its current remittance markets — the United Kingdom, Canada, United States through its money transfer service, VMBS Money Transfer Services (VMTS) — along with an additional 200 countries served by MoneyGram.

“Our members and customers who reside in USA, UK, Canada and an additional 200 countries will be able to assist their family members and friends in Jamaica who will be able to collect their funds in safety and comfort at any of the VMBS branches,” senior vice-president of group strategy at VMBS, Allan Lewis, stated in a press release.

The deal also means that VMBS customers in Jamaica can send funds to any of the 203 countries now served by the financial institution.

Last January, NCB announced that it was exiting the remittance services business in an effort to mitigate risks such as money laundering, financing of terrorism and lottery scam activities.

According to the banking giant, its provision of remittance services had been negatively impacting its global risk profile, which resulted in the institution cancelling its service contract with Money Gram for the UK and Jamaica.

Still, the growth in remittances over the years has encouraged many financial service institutions, including the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS), City of Kingston Credit Union (COK) and Lasco Financial Services to partner with MoneyGram.

In October, the World Bank stated that remittances to developing countries were expected to reach US$435 billion in 2014, an increase of five per cent over 2013. The bank estimated that remittances to developing countries will continue climbing in the medium term, reaching an estimated US$454 billion in 2015. The report added that remittance flows to the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region are “likely to bounce back, following a weak 2013” and should rise to US$67 billion in 2015.

In November, net remittances to Jamaica were US$151.4 million, an increase of US$1.9 million or 1.3 per cent relative to the corresponding period of 2013. According to World Bank statistics, remittances in 2013 were significantly higher than foreign direct investment (FDI) to developing countries and were three times larger than official development assistance.

General manager for VMTS, Michael Howard, stated that “the annual growth of the Jamaican remittance market coupled with the strategic direction of the VMBS Money Transfer business made it a natural fit to work with MoneyGram”.

He added that VMBS plans on extending the services to include the sub-agents of VMTS in the second phase of the new partnership.

“We are seeking to offer customers increased opportunities to transfer money close to home throughout the islands. This is in an effort to better serve our consumers around the world as we seek to be the preferred global network to send and receive funds,” MoneyGram’s regional sales director, Peter Smith, said.