Western Union, the worldwide leader in money transfer services and the Bank of Maharashtra (BoM), has entered into a strategic agreement to provide in-bound money transfer services. | |
| Through this agreement, money transfer services from the Western Union will be available at 500 branches of BoM across the country. |
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| "Through this new initiative, we expect to help the Non-resident Indians (NRIs) and other foreign-account customers, with their remittances, as it is very convenient and cheap," said S C Basu, chairman and managing director, BoM. |
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| He further added that besides the non-interest income that the bank will earn, the tieup will also create new avenues for augmenting profitability. |
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| This will give the bank an opportunity to tap into new NRI depositors, thereby increasing its client base for other products as well, which will be a welcome addition to the income generated via the Western Union product. |
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| Basu informed that as per reports, the total foreign inward remittance to the country from NRIs summed up to $21.7 billion per year. |
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| In the year ended March 2005, BoM handled inward remittance of $12.69 million, while the half year ending September 2005, saw remittances worth $8.49 million. He said, "We are expecting to handle an inward remittance of at least $20 million by the end of this fiscal." |
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| Through our banking services, we are catering to about 10 million customers and expect to bag 5 million more customers within the next two years." |
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| Further on, Basu added that BoM expected a spurt in the demand for the product by existing as well as future clients. The business growth may create a win-win situation for both, the customers as well as the bank. |
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