By Al Edwards, Business Co-ordinatorQUICKCASH, THE popular money transfer service, has a new name - SunMoney.
The announcement was made last Friday by Delroy Howell, vice-chairman, president and chief executive officer of First Financial Caribbean Ltd. (FFC), the Cayman-headquartered company which owns and operates the service.
The company will co-market the brand in association with Courts Ja. Ltd., which has signed an exclusive agents contract in support of SunMoney.
Speaking at a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston, Mr. Howell said "the name change will facilitate SunMoney's expanded presence in the North American, Caribbean, Central American, Latin American and United Kingdom markets."
With a largely Jamaican/ Caribbean clientele, Mr. Howell said "First Financial Caribbean is ready to move to the next stage. We're going full pace ahead on our growth path, but we are a Caribbean company and the name 'SunMoney' clearly reflects that," he explained.
DONE EXTREMELY WELL
In its seven years of operation, QuikCash has done extremely well, expanding from its Grand Cayman base to Fort Lauderdale, New York, United Kingdom, New Jersey, Miami, Haiti and the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Last year, the Jamaican subsidiary of FFC was established. Kenarthur Mitchell, former deputy general manager of City of Kingston Credit Union, one of the largest in the Caribbean, was appointed managing director with responsibility to oversee the growth and development of SunMoney in Jamaica.
Four years ago, the company registered a coup for Caribbean entities when it was granted a remittance licence by the Banking Department of the State of Florida, which allows it to establish independent operations in that state.
ANOTHER FIRST
This year, in another first for a Caribbean-owned company, First Financial was granted principal membership in MasterCard International, including the Maestro Debit and Cirrus ATM network brands, which allows FFC to issue its own credit and debit cards to customers. FFC is currently building its own state-of-the-art, high-tech credit card and processing centre in New Jersey, U.S.A.
Locally, SunMoney administration will continue to be located at the First Financial Caribbean New Kingston office with disbursements being channelled through Courts Ja. Ltd., the island's credit unions and several independent agents, including Access Cambio, Direct Linkup, Marcia's Beauty Supply & Equipment, Mint Investments, Pow Pow Cambio, Stony Hill Supermarket, Wint Cambio and Willy's Supermarket. SunMoney has more than 60 disbursement locations islandwide.
At the press conference, chairman of First Financial Caribbean, Christopher Donachie said: "The introduction of our new global brand name SunMoney Transfer is in fact the catalyst for First Financial Caribbean to go completely global. That's the idea behind the name change. This means we will merge the English and Spanish-speaking markets under one global brand. We will not forget the key market of Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean where our roots are. To establish our new brand, we will build upon our loyal agent network."
Deputy managing director of Courts, Dennis Harris, said: "Quick Cash and Courts have had a longstanding relationship for many years now. We have seen this as a very positive aspect of our business. Courts is a very strong brand in Jamaica and we are market leaders in our field with 27 locations but above that we stand for innovation and service, which compliments Quick Cash/SunMoney Transfer who are able to tell clients that they can pick up their cash within 10 minutes.
"People are very nervous as far as money is concerned, especially given some of the history and experiences people have had in Jamaica. Being able to pick up your money at Courts, which is a strong and well established organisation in Jamaica, gives people a lot of confidence," he said.
Mr. Harris said "another aspect of this alliance is that people send money from abroad and in many instances that money is used to pay bills and so that money goes to their creditors. As you know, Courts has a credit account so you can see how beneficial this agreement is. We also have a co-marketing agreement, which allows us to share marketing ideas."
FLUCTUATIONS
Managing director of First Financial Caribbean (Kingston Branch), Kenarthur Mitchell, pointed out that with the recent fluctuations in the exchange rate there has been a discernible upsurge in remittances, which was good for business.
He also noted the number of banking institutions that were entering the remittance business and said that while their core business was banking, companies like Sun Money Transfer would stick to what they do best and were not unduly worried about banks entering the market.
Mr. Howell said that within the next five years Jamaica will see remittance inflows of around US$1.6 billion.
