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M Lhuillier pawnshop has successfully re-branded itself to being ‘more than just a pawnshop,’ as they pioneered domestic money remittance in the Philippines. And now they, have reached another milestone by partnering with MoneyGram International.

With this partnership, Lhuillier will be able to provide money transfer services on a dollar-to-dollar basis, eliminating currency exchange costs in the country. This straight currency transfer service will also give clients the option to have the dollar remittance exchanged to peso at their convenience.

Nick Cunnew, MoneyGram International senior regional director of the Asia Pacific and South Asia region is optimistic about the partnership. “With over a thousand M. Lhuillier business centers in the Philippines, we think that they have strong presence so we partnered with them to gain better reach to the Filipinos,” he said.

Michael Lhuillier, vice-president of M. Lhuillier Financial services believes that this service is of great value to the remaining Filipinos working overseas. He knows that Filipinos “are a resilient people. In this time where families are scrimping down on expenses, we give them options – options to transfer their dollar at lower rates. They can save money.”

“We pioneered domestic money remittance services in the Philippines, and now we’re also the first to offer such MoneyGram money transfer services 24 hours a day to the Filipinos. We’re not really just a pawnshop and in fact we’re delving into insurances also and hopefully in the future, it’s part of the wish list to transform M. Lhuillier to a savings bank,” Lhuillier added. The dollar-to-dollar remittance service will be available starting April 1, 2009.

The partnership is expected to bring down transfer rates of dollars sent via MoneyGram agent centers to any M. Lhuillier business center in the Philippines. John Hempsey, MoneyGram International chief executive officer said that money transfers may also be received via MoneyGram in the Philippines.

MoneyGram International, a global person-to-person electronic money transfer service, has established approximately 176, 000 locations in over 180 countries. Their numerous agents include Wal-Mart in the US, Lippo bank in Indonesia, the UK post office, Thomas Cook in India, Poste Italiane in Italy, and Banco de Oro in the Philippines, among others.