Non-bank Remittance expands to 16 African countries

Halimat Isah, left, GME's marketing head for the African region, assists a client from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Courtesy of GME Remittance

By Ko Dong-hwan

GME's latest promo poster for its African services. Courtesy of GME Remittance

How can African workers in Korea send their earnings home to their families? Banks charge high fees, and delivery by friends takes too much time and is unreliable. Remittance service provider GME is offering an alternative that is attracting many African workers.

Set up in 2017, GME is Korea's first non-bank financial company licensed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. In August, the company began a service to 16 African countries, including population centers Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ghana.

The service has now served more than 3,000 new clients at a fixed service charge of 9,000 won ($7.50) for any amount between $5,000 and $50,000 a year. The flat rate is GME's flagship selling point as Korean banks charge 4 percent or $40 for every $1,000 to be sent.

Bank transactions ― mostly via Western Union or Suhyup Bank ― also take at least three working days for recipients to receive the money.

GME's mobile app gets it done in as fast as five minutes, allowing recipients to pick up money from their African bank accounts. About 1,000 banks in Nigeria allow locals to receive money sent from GME, either from any of its 10 branches in Korea or via a smartphone app.

Africans also had problems at Korean banks, where they often hit a language barrier either at service desks or navigating the Korean banking system. GME, led by CEO John Sung who entrusts the care of his mostly Asian and African customers to GMS's foreign staff from the relevant regions, makes sure there is no language problem in using the service.

The stress experienced at banks trouble many migrants here, especially in December when Christmas and New Year holiday seasons are near and many foreigners want to wire money to their homelands.

“The growing population of Africans here has brought the need for a safe, convenient and affordable medium to transfer money back home,” Halimat Isah, GME's marketing head for the African region, told The Korea Times.

She said many Africans had been avoiding banks because of the difficulties and had opted for illegal channels that were easier and cheaper ― sending money via African restaurants or through people they knew.

“Due to such practices, there have been many instances of customers' money never reaching home, with the intermediary defrauding the sender,” said Isah, a Nigerian. “They traded off convenience and low cost with the risk of losing all their money.”