I-Remit, Inc. (iRemit), the largest non-bank Filipino owned Remittance Company announced its expansion to Greece, after sealing an agreement with Elite Exchange Remittance Services S.A., while branches in Italy and Macau are both set to open before the year ends.

The firm said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange that Elite Exchange is a company engaged in money remittance and foreign exchange trading under the supervision of the Central Bank of Greece.

Under the agreement, both companies will offer money remittance services to Filipino workers in Greece who intended to remit money to their beneficiaries in the Philippines.

Elite Exchange’s head office is located in Ambelokipi, Athens - an area known to have a high concentration of Filipinos.

“We’re delighted about the opportunity to expand our coverage and establish presence in Greece,” said iRemit president Harris Jacildo adding that “our expansion strategy has been consistently aggressive this year and fortunately it has proven to be successful for us.”

The company this year also expanded its business to Syria, and acquired additional agents and tie-ups in Bahrain and UAE. It also opened recently a branch in West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, making this its fifth fully-owned branch in Canada.

“This remittance business in Greece will further put us on course to achieving our business objectives for 2009,” Jacildo added.

According to statistics from the Philippine Embassy, there are about 40,000 Filipinos in Greece – 70 percent are sea-based and 30 percent are land-based.

The overall remittance volume slowed down this year compared to the same period last year.

However, Greece managed a 52 percent increase in remittance volume in July year-to-date as reported by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. (JAL)