Interview with Lijo John, General Manager, Modern Exchange Company

Modern Exchange has been in the remittance and money exchange business since 1993. Tell us about the company’s branch network and services in Oman?

Modern Exchange Co LLC-Oman was established in the year 1993. The company with more than 29 years of trusted service has gone through a major transition. In 2011, it was acquired by Al Mulla Group, a leading diversified privately held business group headquartered in Kuwait, driven by over 15,000 people from more than 35 countries, having affiliations with over 40 companies and subsidiaries, and exclusively representing over 200 renowned world-class brands.

Modern Exchange have been growing at a fast pace and have built a strong network of 37 branches across the Sultanate of Oman. Modern Exchange offers a wide range of financial services under one roof, every product, service or process is engineered to enhance customer experience. So, no matter which branch the customers walk in to, they will get the same attention and quality of service. This proactive thinking has enabled us to offer a wide range of financial services under a single roof.

Customers can avail money transfer, foreign currency exchange and payment solutions at the same branch, making Modern Exchange a true financial supermarket. “Our Motto is to beat customer expectations, not just to meet them”. We believe in creating customer delight and positive experiences for our customers towards our brand through our service levels. We care about surpassing customers’ expectations and focus on building a long-term and engaging relationship with them.

What is the most significant way in which Modern Exchange stands above its peers within the local remittance and money exchange market?

Technology is the backbone and major contributor in our success. We are the first among exchange houses launched online/mobile app, through which one can send money to any corner of the world. Apart from that, now customers need not carry hard cash to the branch, instead they can use their any Oman issued debit cards for transactions.

We treat strategic partnership as an opportunity to win specific business objectives and it is often considered as a long term, win-win commitment between specifically identified potential partners. Modern Exchange has entered into strategic partnerships with leading banks/MTO’s across the world to offer unparalleled service to our customers and in turn enabling us for winning a new set of customers (acquisition), retention and reactivation of inactive customers etc. Some of our recent strategic partnerships made us to enable faster account credit service to the corridors such as Europe, UK, USA, Canada, Australia and the UAE for corporate as well as individual customers with very competitive charges and exchange rates.

Do you see consumer preferences have changed in your industry as a result of the pandemic? If so, how are you and team dealing with renewed customer expectations?

We have been advocating for moving remittance business onto digital platform, which could help us to move the exchange companies to cashless transaction. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, changes in consumer preferences were more visible in the digital world as more consumers turned to Internet banking, mobile banking, and mobile payments, which changed the way they interact with their banks and financial institutions (BFIs).

We have introduced our mobile app/online remittance in 2018, however the emergence of COVID-19 has severely disrupted the methods of money transfer and payments. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the use of digital payments and remittances has suddenly increased globally and in different contexts. Even in countries where the usage of digital financial services was relatively high before the pandemic.

We have successfully introduced Payment Link transactions during the COVID time and the number of online/mobile app customer registrations have increased manifold and still the trend is continuing. Hence, our registered customers would now be able to make real-time transactions without visiting branches.

Oman’s economy is seeing a robust recovery this year amid higher oil prices. What is your outlook for remittances in 2022 and the coming years?

Oman’s economy has enjoyed a strong first half to 2022 and the outlook for the rest of this year and 2023 is positive. We believe this positive outlook would also help the remittance industry to grow in the coming year. Country’s commitment to fiscal performance control procedures, initiatives in line with the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan and higher oil prices improved the economic and financial indicators.

How do you ensure meeting customer expectations and building long-term and engaging relationship with them?

Customers have always been the nucleus of every activity in Modern Exchange. Delivering customer service par excellence has been the single most goal of Modern Exchange since inception. And this reverence has been well received and reciprocated which attributes to the strong customer base.

We have introduced ‘Zero Minute Remittance’ for customers, mobile/online and Payment Link transactions for their convenience, and shortly we will be introducing offsite Kiosk in remote locations. Apart from that, more outlets will be opened to serve our customers.

As an organisation, we have been inculcating this culture of excellence, imbibing its values in our work life. When we experience an enhanced degree of quality in the output every time, we celebrate it as success. This constant striving gets fuelled by encouragement in the form of awards and recognition from various authorities.

The most recent example is the ‘Oman’s Most Trusted Brand’ award, conferred under the Money Exchange category, highlights brand’s success in catalysing steady improvements towards customer service and business excellence.

What are the recent developments in the remittances industry related to digitalisation and innovation? What innovations Modern Exchange has made in remittance space in recent years?

Central Bank of Oman has recently issued circular on the Merchant Service Fee to be charged on Off-Us transactions, by the licensed banks. This is in line with CBO’s vision to promote e-payments in the country and to achieve the goal of less-cash society.

CBO’s initiative has helped us in augmenting our digitalisation process and in turn reaching to all segments of the population especially Omani customers who have been using our online/mobile app service majorly for transferring funds to European countries. Payment link transaction is a boon to our registered customers who can remit money by receiving the remittance link through their registered mobile number with us even without visiting our branches.

In 2018, Modern Exchange became one of the first exchange companies in Oman to launch a mobile remittance app. How has been the response from customers for this app?

Post COVID-19, we see a surge in online/mobile app remittance transactions and with the timely interference of Central Bank of Oman, now can accept payments from all the debit cards issued in Oman. Sending remittance using mobile app is simple and easy. The app is designed to be user friendly, so even if you aren’t tech-savvy, you should be able to navigate them. They are also secure as you complete all your transactions within the app without having to visit an external website.

In what kind of CSR activity is Modern Exchange involved?

Every act of kindness creates an endless ripple and we, at Modern Exchange believe in the same. As part of Corporate Social Responsibility, Modern Exchange started offering free life insurance worth RO1,250 for 30 days from the date of remittance, the insurance has got worldwide coverage for accidental death, normal death and permanent total disability. It is a free insurance for our customers, however premium of each transaction is being paid by the company, and no policy documents are to be filled, customers may enjoy hassle-free insurance cover for 30 days which gets auto-renewed at their successive transactions. This was started in 2013 and continued to be a helping hand for many of our customer’s families.