LASCO Financial Services Limited has signed a deal with First Heritage Co-operative Credit Union (FHCCU) resulting in an additional 11 MoneyGram agents for the company.

The agreement will see Lasco Financial adding six locations before the end of the year and another five locations by the second quarter of 2016.

Lasco Financial offers remittance and cambio services and is the primary agent for MoneyGram International in Jamaica, providing a network of 100 sub-agents. It also provides MoneyGram services in five Unicomer Courts Furniture Store branches in Barbados.

The company anticipates that FHCCU’s recent merger with St Thomas Co-operative Credit Union — which increased its member base to 160,000 and 11 branches — will positively impact Lasco Financial’s customer service and the convenience offered to members, while widening its target market.

Currently, Lasco Financial Services has more than 120 locations islandwide.

“The partnership has allowed Lasco Financial to expand our MoneyGram networks with FHCCU as well as incorporate some of its customers who probably otherwise would not have had such easy access to MoneyGram. But now that it is under one roof it should increase efficiency,” marketing officer for Lasco Financial, Matthew Blake told the Jamaica Observer.

“We had partnered with St Thomas Co-operative Credit Union, but the merger with FHCCU changed the operations. With the network of FHCCU exposing the Lasco MoneyGram brand to their members will increase the growth of the company,” he added.

Earlier this year, Lasco Financial made investments in key Diaspora markets in collaboration with MoneyGram International. The company stated in its financial statements for the year ended March 2015 that it increased its cambio networks to five locations, with Port Antonio as its newest addition.

Lasco Financial has also invested in an Enterprise Software better suited for its dynamic environment and a remittance software to improve transaction processing and customer relationship management. The remittance company recently introduced new value-added services through its remittance agents.

“We embarked on new collaborations in the lending industry and introduced new loan types; all this in a bid to ensure that we continue to create sustainable value,” executive chairman Vincent Chen stated to shareholders of the listed company.

Lasco Financial closed its 2015 financial year with revenues totalling $713.5 million, an increase of 13.5 per cent or $84.9 million more than the previous year.

Expenses grew by 15.6 per cent to close the year at $522.2 million, while total comprehensive income for the year closed at $191 million.