HAVING earlier partnered with the largest Philippine bank in terms of capital, US-based financial services provider Wells Fargo forged yet another agreement on Thursday, this time with domestic remittance leader Cebuana Lhuillier.

The agreement bridges the so-called last-mile issues that money transfer units often face when facilitating the flow of funds from its sender, the United States in this case, to its ultimate recipient in the Philippines which could be anywhere in the country’s 1,007 islands.

Daniel Ayala, head of global remittance services at Wells Fargo Bank, acknowledged this in an interview at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel, saying the alliance with Cebuana Lhuillier was mostly customer-driven.

Last-mile issues pertain to that portion of the remittance chain when actually delivering the money to the intended beneficiary gets bogged down considerably or even lost, presenting enormous problems for partner banks like in this case, Wells Fargo’s partner the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co.

This is often a problem in the Philippines as lenders like Metrobank cannot possibly be everywhere there are remittance beneficiaries because opening up branches in remote places of the country are not cost efficient or practical.

This is where the estimated 1,500 Cebuana Lhuillier branches across the Philippines is key to making the alliance work, the number roughly reflecting the number of local government units a large number of whose constituents are overseas remittance beneficiaries.

Ayala said, later confirmed by Cebuana Lhuillier vice president Philip Andre Lhuillier, the presence of the home-grown money remitter in places where Wells Fargo’s banking partner Metrobank is unavailable strengthens the alliance.

Lhuillier also said Cebuana Lhuillier eyes more presence south of the country in Mindanao where it has less intense presence than say, the main island of Luzon.

He would not be more specific but he said there are short- as well as long-term plans to expand Cebuana Lhuillier’s Mindanao presence, particularly in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and one of the least banked areas of the country.

“Through our partnership with Wells Fargo, Filipinos and their families in the US can count on Cebuana Lhuillier for convenient and quick payout of transactions.  We are open to serve clients seven days a week and over 35 of our branches in key areas are now operating 24 hours a day,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, president and chief executive officer at PJ Lhuillier Inc, the umbrella company of Cebuana Lhuillier.