Construction Industry News
Fino Payments Bank customers can transfer money sent from abroad as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been authorized to offer the international money transfer service.
Fino Bank has received RBI approval to start international remittance business under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS), the bank said Monday.
The lender will undertake inbound cross-border money transfer activities in collaboration with a foreign client, the details of which will be worked out.
Fino Bank's customer segment at the center of the pyramid is aimed at families of many of the people who work abroad, Fino Bank said.
Money transferred by relatives abroad can now be withdrawn directly at the nearest Fino Bank retail outlet with micro ATM or Aadhaar Payment Services (AEPS).
“Continuous product innovation is one of the core pillars of our model. International remittances further strengthen our transaction-based product offering.
“We will be ready to offer the inbound remittance services to our customers by Q1 FY23. In line with our digital strategy to improve the customer experience, we will also look to have this product on our mobile application as well,” Fino Payments Bank Chief Operating Officer Major Ashish Ahuja said.
Fino traders offer services such as opening a new account, depositing cash, transferring funds, withdrawing funds through micro ATMs or AEPS mechanisms, and collect cash on behalf of various institutional clients, among others.
Ahuja said there is a major corridor for inbound remittances in states like Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
“We have already scaled up our sales force in all of these regions, so we're confident that the new offering will take off soon.
“We also expect to see more subscription-based savings accounts thanks to this initiative, as customers prefer to park the money transferred in a Fino Bank account itself,” he added.
The payment bank said it will be open to partnering with more leading money transfer operators (MTOs) in the future to broaden its horizons across different countries.
The bank also said it has plans to start outbound remittance services soon. Fino Bank's network of more than eight lakh merchants across the country, as of Sept. 30, 2021, will provide easy access to both domestic and cross-border remittances, it said.
Fino cited a recent World Bank report that India is expected to be the largest recipient of remittances by 2021 with a projected receipt of $87 billion.
This is expected to grow by three percent by 2022 to USD 89.6 billion as a large number of workers are expected to return to the Gulf countries, the World Bank said.
