MLhuillier targets 1,500 outlets nationwide

CEBU, Philippines – Buoyed by the rapid success of its remittance business, Cebuano financial services company M.Lhuillier Philippines targets to open 1,500 outlets nationwide in the next two to three years to widen its ML Kwarta Padala network all over the country.

MLhuillier Philippines vice president Michael Lhuillier said that they envision to establish the widest reach of financial services to the public.

He said that right now, they are talking to a lot of different interested partners in Macau and other locations abroad that will expand their reach to Filipinos overseas.

Lhuillier said that last year, they have opened an office in Los Angeles, California and they are looking at strengthening this to service the remittance requirements of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stationed in North America and in Canada, which still has the highest number of Filipino workers.

He said that right now they have established 1, 200 different MLhuillier locations nationwide and they target to open 1,500 outlets for the next two to three years of operations.

“We always want to work harder and continue doing business. Amidst the financial crisis, we strive to be better for there is always a need to send money and to borrow money. We want to make sure that our systems are good so that we can service more people,” said Lhuillier.

He said that the take up of their loans have always remained on a steady trend as they have done this service for three generations already; however, their remittance segment has so far been gaining the fastest growth.

MLhuillier started their ML Kwarta Padala in 1996 initially targeting students and with that they have pioneered the electronic money transfer in the country and remodelled the old send out practice because now, a lot of Filipinos from different walks of life are already utilizing this service.

“Now, the whole industry is moving towards electronic money transfer but since we have pioneered this service, this now serves as our key advantage against our local and even multinational money transfer competitors,” said Lhuillier.

But getting at the level of success that MLhuillier is enjoying right now has not been an easy feat because it entailed a lot of hard work and investments on their part, according to Lhuillier.

He said that just last year; they have poured in more than two million pesos investment to purchase servers for their data center to maintain and upgrade the quality of their systems.

After they have opened a back-up office in Manila, they are also looking at setting up another back up office in either Hong Kong or in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, aside from their plans of putting one MLhuillier branch in every municipality, they are looking at also opening up more 24 hours and seven days a week MLhuillier branches nationwide to provide more ease and convenience to their widely segmented clientele, said Lhuillier.

He added that they are also currently mounting up another value added feature in their ML Kwarta Padala service through utilizing cards that can be accessed through ATM machines.

Lhuillier outlaid plans of further diversifying their services to become a full pledged financial services institution.

He also said that they are looking at putting up their own bank in the near future “whenever opportunity would present itself.”

“Profit is the reward that comes later because we first look at the employment that we can generate from our investments. We are proud of being a Filipino company specifically a Cebuano company and we will constantly invest and throw back our resources to the country’s economy as well as provide employment to as many people,” said Lhuillier.