Expanding its presence in Turkey, on Tuesday, MoneyGram International Inc. (MGI) has announced its partnership with Bank Asya in Turkey, to enhance its money transfer service business by extending its service to the bank’s 160 domestic branches across the country, over a period of time. Through this alliance, MoneyGram has grown its network to 190,000 agent locations in 190 countries and territories.
 
Money transfer business remains the driving force for MoneyGram. The company has been expanding its money transfer business across the globe through various recognized financial institutions. Going forward, management projects a strong remittance market in Turkey. In 2008, Turkey received an estimated $1.3 billion in remittances according to the World Bank, primarily from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria and the U.S.
 
Hence, the company is in the process of evolving advanced ways of consolidating in the region. Through the alliance with Bank Asya, MoneyGram will be able to support its regional strategy of constant improvement of the money transfer services by serving approximately 3 million account holders of the bank. Alongside, the company will also provide its services to other customers in Turkey who do not hold an account in Bank Asya.
 
MoneyGram continues to establish new growth avenues by exploring new locations and incorporating latest and flexible technology such as transfers through mobile phones, prepaid cards or ATMs, in order to speed up its money transfer services and enhance remittance volumes.
 
While the growing presence in high potential markets strengthens MoneyGram’s revenue stream, declining debts reflect a sturdy capital position. Although the current economic turmoil has weakened both the revenue growth and the operating leverage of MoneyGram, we believe that the company has the potential to overcome the impact of the volatile U.S. dollar against other currencies and additional losses in its investment portfolio, once the global economy rebounds to its historical highs. 

On Tuesday, the shares of MoneyGram closed at $3.56, up 1.1%, on the New York Stock Exchange.
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