Cebuana Lhuillier

Cebuana Lhuillier, also commonly known as Cebuana, is a Philippine-based microfinancial institution, and the flagship brand of PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies. It provides pawnbrokering, money remittance, insurance, microloans, bills payment, remit-to-account, corporate payout, collections, and e-loading services to millions of Filipinos worldwide. Jean Henri Lhuillier is the current President and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier.

Cebuana Lhuillier traces its roots to Cebu, where then French Consul to the Philippines Henry Leon Lhuillier established the first branch, called Agencia Cebuana, in 1953.

In 1968, Henry Lhuillier's son, Philippe Jones Lhuillier went forth and opened the first Lhuillier pawnshop in Manila, located at Libertad Street in Pasay under the trade name Agencia Cebuana. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s, Philippe Jones Lhuillier opened more agencias in the metro.

The company pursued further nationwide expansion in 1987 and adopted the trade name ‘Cebuana Lhuillier’, which it still carries to this day. In 1998, Philippe Jones Lhuillier was appointed the Philippine Ambassador to Italy. His eldest son, Jean Henri Lhuillier, took the helm and became Cebuana Lhuillier’s President and Chief Executive Officer in the same year.

In addition to pawning, Jean Henri Lhuillier introduced Cebuana Lhuillier’s other services, including remittance, insurance, bills payment, money changer, e-load, remit-to-account, corporate payout, collections service, and other auxiliary services.

In 1996, Cebuana Lhuillier was one of the first Filipino companies to offer domestic and international remittance services. Since then, the company has been providing safe and swift remittance services between Filipino families in the Philippines and overseas Filipino workers all over the world.

Addressing the banking needs of the underprivileged, Cebuana Lhuillier Rural Bank was established in 1998, offering loans and deposit services. The two branches are located in Cavite and Batangas, servicing previously under-banked communities.

In 1999, Cebuana Lhuillier started to offer microinsurance products, providing security to sectors previously unable to afford insurance. This business has further expanded with different product iterations especially made for different sectors such as students and employees, among others.

It also became the first pawnshop and money remittance company to offer a membership rewards program for its loyal clients through the 24k card loyalty program in 2010.

In the following year, the number of Cebuana Lhuillier branches hit the 1,500 mark.

The 24k loyalty card had its 2,500,000th member in 2012, and later reached five million members in 2014. In the same year, Cebuana Lhuillier started to reach out to potential customers in areas with limited access through its Cebuana Lhuillier On Wheels.

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Wikipedia