Poste Italiane and Egypt Post agree money transfer link
Poste Italiane has signed an agreement with Egypt Post to establish a new money transfer service between Italy and Egypt. The Italian postal operator said the new service would significantly reduce the cost of transactions between Italy and the North African republic.
Initial promotional rates of 5 euros will be available in all 14,000 Italian post offices and 4,500 Egyptian post offices, with customers able to transfer up to 1,000 euros in each transaction, to be converted into local currency within two working days of receipt by Egypt Post.
The service, which will use secure money transfer technology, has been developed through collaboration with the Universal Postal Union and electronic payment company Eurogiro.
Poste Italiane chief executive Massimo Sarmi signed the agreement with Egypt Post’s chairman Mosad Abd El Ghani today in Rome, with officials from both nations’ governments and the UPU.
Sarmi said the new service opened a “new chapter” in relations between his company and Egypt Post.
“Thanks to the cooperation between the two postal organisations, the UPU and Eurogiro, the Egyptian community in Italy – about 92,000 people – will benefit from a system that will ensure a safe and competitive money transfer service,” said the Poste Italiane CEO.
Abd El Ghani said he was “proud” his company and Poste Italiane was able to establish the first transfer link of its kind for Egyptian postal customers.
“I am very pleased to be here today to inaugurate this new service to transfer funds at low cost between Egypt and Italy,” he said.
UPU-Eurogiro Bridge
“Remittances have a significant economic impact on communities and countries”
The UPU, the UN-affiliated global organisation for the postal industry, said the new Italy-Egypt service connects with its International Financial System network, which is currently used by 56 posts, including Egypt’s, as well as the Eurogiro network, which is used by Poste Italiane and 64 other posts, banks and payment handlers.
The agency said its “bridge” with the Eurogiro network was opening the door to many other posts to interconnect and start providing similar money transfer services.
The two organisations signed their partnership agreement back in November 2010.
UPU director general Edouard Dayan said: “Remittances have a significant economic impact on communities and countries and contribute to poverty reduction, and making them more accessible through the postal network is a UPU priority.”
Eurogiro, the Copenhagen-based global payments company which was set up a group of 12 European posts in 1991, said from its side, the UPU-Eurogiro bridge was built on its own central server and is available for use by any Eurogiro members who are also designated postal operators in their countries.
Eurogiro chairperson Sylvie Solignac said her organisation was “very satisfied that technical and commercial challenges have been successfully overcome thanks to the commitment of all parties.”
