Transfast,
LLC and BRAC Bank Ltd. of Bangladesh today announced that they have partnered
to enable Transfast customers to make instant bank transfers into accounts at
BRAC Bank – the first-ever instant bank deposit service to Bangladesh by a
global money transfer company.
This
was disclosed in presence of mass media at a Press Meet held at a restaurant in
city this morning. Present at the session were Transfast CEO and President Mr
Samish Kumar, Transfast Director, Asia and Africa Mr Samir Bidhate and Country
Head in Bangladesh Mohammad Khairuzzaman. Besides, BRAC Bank’s Head of Retail
Banking Mr. Firoz Ahmed Khan and Head of Communications and Service Quality
Zara Jabeen Mahbub, and Head of Retail Sales, Remittance and Payroll Mr Mamur
Ahmed, were present.
“BRAC
Bank is one of the leading banks in Bangladesh and a pioneer in sophisticated
technology in serving all its clients, and we are excited to offer our
customers the ability to deposit money instantly and securely there,” says
Samish Kumar, CEO of Transfast. “We know that our customers who send money to
accounts held at BRAC Bank will enjoy this added convenience.”
Transfast
customers can send money online, via mobile or through agent locations around
the globe to their friends and family in Bangladesh. Friends and family can
receive money direct to their bank accounts, or pick up the money within
minutes at thousands of convenient locations throughout Bangladesh.
In
addition to direct-to-bank deposits, Transfast customers can pick up cash from
any of BRAC Bank’s 166 branches, 50 SME Unit Offices and more than 100,000
bKash agents.
According
to the World Bank, Bangladesh saw some $15 billion in remittances flow into the
country in 2014, making it the world’s eighth-largest remittance corridor. In
its Migration and Development Brief of October 2014, the World Bank says that
average remittances to receiving households in Bangladesh are worth twice per
capita income and equivalent to almost 80 percent of receiving household’s
income, evidence of the vital importance of remittances to Bangladesh’s
economy.
BRAC
Bank currently accounts for almost four percent of the total remittances to
Bangladesh.
“We
are pleased to be the first bank in Bangladesh to partner with Transfast to
launch an instant bank deposit service,” says Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Managing
Director and CEO of BRAC Bank. “Transfast’s commitment to serving the
Bangladeshi community overseas with products that deliver value, convenience
and service is in line with our mission of serving their families and friends
in Bangladesh with high-quality and reliable banking services.”
Rahman
added, “An instant deposit service to beneficiaries in Bangladesh combines the benefits
of speed with the convenience of receiving funds directly into a beneficiary’s
account, further evidence of our commitment to increasing the remittance flow
into Bangladesh through new technologies and partnerships.”
About
BRAC Bank:
BRAC
Bank is one of country’s fastest growing banks. With 157 branches, more than
350 ATMs, 400 SME Unit Offices and over 6,700 human resources, BRAC Bank
operation now cuts across all segments and services in financial industry. With
more than 1.5 Million Customers, The bank has already proved to be the largest
SME Financier in just 13 years of its operation in Bangladesh and continues to
broaden its horizon into Retail, Corporate, SME, Probashi and other arenas of
banking. In 2013 BRAC Bank has received the prestigious ‘The Asian Banker Best
Managed Bank in Bangladesh’. In the year: 2010, BRAC Bank has been recognized
as Asia’s most Sustainable Bank in Emerging Markets by the Financial Times and
IFC. The Bank is the country’s first founder member of Global Alliance for
Banking on Values (GABV) – a network of the world’ leading sustainable banks.
About
Transfast:
Transfast, a leading international money
transfer and payments company in the $608 billion annual global remittance
industry, operates a proprietary network of over 300,000 payment points across
more than 100 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Africa. (source: press release)