A Lifeline for Southeast-Asian Families:

As travel restrictions were relaxed following the easing of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of foreign migrant workers in Taiwan rose to 770,000, a new high.

EUI Corporation, which currently has 223,000 members, offers remittance services covering Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. In 2023 its revenues reached NT$338 million, while a total of nearly NT$30 billion was transferred across national borders in over 3 million transactions using the EUI app, showing how popular it is among migrant workers.

EUI has held prize draws in order to engage with clients. (courtesy of EUI IndoMoney)

Innovation and legal compliance

“Our clients are all migrant workers from Southeast Asia,” says Melvin Wu, founder and CEO of EUI, adding: “When migrant workers arrive in Taiwan, they already face problems of language and cultural adaptation, so they deserve better financial services, including remittances.” What he is talking about is “inclusive finance”: giving everyone an equal opportunity to access responsible, dependable financial services.

Wu, who started his own business at age 36, wanted to “create a platform that would allow migrant workers to remit funds safely, rapidly, conveniently and at low cost.” He felt that by doing so he could develop foreign workers’ remittances as a niche market.

“However, when I first started this enterprise, I had no idea how hard it was going to be.” Wu explains that migrant workers were not in the habit of opening bank accounts in Taiwan, and banks have limited operating hours, so he figured he could meet the needs of these workers by developing an easy-to-use remittance system that could be accessed 24 hours a day. But at the same time he had to comply with the anti-money-laundering and “know your customer” regulations of the government financial authorities.

EUI founder Melvin Wu believes that inclusive finance encourages business interactions and manpower mobility.

Smart technology for legal compliance

“When entrepreneurs want to start up a new company, they need to have a legal compliance system in place, which requires the use of technology,” states Wu. The application of technology to legal compliance was only the first step; the second was to make the system “smart.”

The EUI platform completes these tasks entirely using digital and smart methods. Artificial intelligence (AI) is used to simplify processes such as transaction authentication and customer identity verification, reducing manpower costs by as much as 60–70%.

From 2017 to 2019, EUI linked up with the information systems of numerous banks in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, including all of the five largest banks in selected Southeast-Asian countries. Examples include Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank) of the Philippines, and Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) in Vietnam.

Eastern Union Interactive (EUI) provides services to migrant workers in their own languages thanks to the efforts of Southeast-Asian graduates of Taiwan universities.

Foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens use their native languages to provide services to migrant workers.

The ideal of inclusive finance

Melvin Wu says, “Hi-tech finance must be able to enhance efficiency and lower costs.” Generally speaking, banks charge fees of about NT$500–600 (more than US$15) per transaction for migrant workers to remit funds to their home countries, whereas EUI charges only NT$150 (US$5). It also offers preferential exchange rates, while transactions are rapid: Remittance recipients can access the money within a day, giving those sending the money more peace of mind.

But one thing that most people are relatively unaware of is the “digital gap” or “information gap.” For example, says Wu, in 2019 a migrant worker from a small island in Indonesia had not used a mobile phone before coming to Taiwan, so that before service personnel could teach them how to download the app, they had to first teach them how to use a smartphone. In contrast, Vietnamese workers, who tend to be younger, are more skilled at using consumer electronics.

At present, the largest numbers of migrant workers in Taiwan come from Indonesia and Vietnam, and these account for 65% of EUI’s clientele. The Philippines ranks third, while there are relatively few workers from Thailand. Taiwan plans in the future to open up its labor market to migrant workers from India, and EUI intends to offer services for that country as well.

EUI received regulatory approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission in 2022, becoming only the second non-banking firm authorized to handle cross-border remittances. In 2023 business began to grow explosively, with consolidated revenue reaching NT$341 million, an increase of 108% over the previous year. From January to April of 2024, revenues totaled NT$139 million, an increase of 47.29% over the same period in 2023, with earnings per share of NT$3.02, surpassing the NT$3.01 of 2023. Continued growth is anticipated.

Wu wants EUI to keep moving forward as an innovative financial technology company. “It’s rare to find a business model in which the government, migrant workers, and startups all benefit,” he says with a smile.

The interface of the EUI app’s Vietnamese-language version.