A service which allows Bangladeshis in Malaysia to transfer money home via their mobile phones has been launched by Citibank and DIGI Tele-communications Sdn Bhd. The new service is designed to simplify the transfer of money. Migrant workers in the Southeast Asian country can now remit cash without visiting a bank or exchange house, instead being able to simply load their mobile phone accounts.

Malaysia is one of the largest potential sources of remittances for Bangladesh and in recent years there has been increased pressure to send money home through official channels.

However, Bangladeshi workers are scattered throughout the country in industrial areas and on plantations, away from the banks and offices that provide official remittance facilities.

Under the new scheme, DIGI acts as a remittance agent of Citibank to its prepaid and postpaid cell phone customers, who can register at any of the 47 DiGi centres throughout Malaysia.

Once a user has registered he can load his account by simply buying normal telephone scratch cards. The service offers issuance of drafts in Bangladesh payable at over 800 locations, which are delivered between 24 to 72 hours.

The registration creates a virtual wallet for the customer to load up to Malaysian ringgit (RM) 5,000, around TK 1 lakh, at any one time. The customer can then remit via SMS anytime or over the counter at designated DiGi outlets, subject to a limit of RM 5,000 per transaction. The fee for the service starts from RM 8.

Customers will also automatically receive free personal accident coverage.

Commenting on this product, Rashed Maqsood, director & head of Global Transaction Services of Citi Bangladesh, said, “We are the first bank in Bangladesh to pioneer mobile based cross-border remittance to Bangladesh market.”

In future, the ambition is to make it possible to send funds directly from the user’s mobile phone in Malaysia to the receiver’s mobile phone account in Bangladesh, Maqsood added.