Postal financial services are developing at a rapid rate
The Universal Postal Union (UPU), a specialised agency of the UN, plays a crucial and often under-appreciated role in international movement of mail by co-ordinating postal services between member countries.
Today, the UPU’s 191 member countries plus post offices make up the largest physical distribution network in the world, accounting for billions of letters and packages processed every year.
With the mandate of promoting universal postal service, development and technical co-operation, it acts as an international forum and sets technical standards for effective postal operations and interconnecting the global postal network.
Speaking to Business Line in an e-mailed interview, Mr Edouard Dayan, Director-General of UPU, dwelt on issues and challenges before the agency.
Public-private partnerships can be very beneficial for postal operators, but they must determine the need according to their own domestic strategies. Some postal operators are also partnering with private postal operators that have traditionally been considered competition, which is why these days many postal executives talk about “co-opetition.”
In the area of money transfers, the UPU is helping member countries make the transition from the traditional paper money order, a service created by it in the late 19th century, to electronic money transfer.
Through its own international financial network, the UPU is facilitating the exchange of electronic money transfers in many member countries, thus providing greater access to such affordable services to migrant workers and other citizens.
India is actually one of the latest large countries to adopt the UPU’s International Financial System, developed by its Postal Technology Centre, which facilitates money transfer exchanges for many migrants working in India to support their families in another country.
Postal financial services, for example, are developing at a rapid rate, and in some countries revenues from this segment of activity account for more than 50 per cent of total postal revenues. The growth of e-commerce and the parcel volumes thus generated are also opportunities to consider.
