Brac Bank and DBS enable Bangladeshi migrants in Singapore to send real-time, no-fee remittance

Bangladeshi migrants working in Singapore will now be able to easily transfer their hard-earned income to their families back home, with minimal expenses and in real-time using DBS Remit via DBS digibank, DBS' digital banking platform.

For remittances to Bangladesh, DBS Remit provides guaranteed exchange rates, has no service fee charges and ensures real-time automated deposits to Brac Bank accounts, as well as any other bank account in Bangladesh, reads a press release.

Brac Bank's extensive network of 187 branches and more than 700 Agent Banking outlets also allows recipients in Bangladesh to easily collect the transfer in cash, if they prefer.

For remittances deposited to a Brac Bank account, the bank's customers can use Mobile App Astha to pay utilities, insurance and loan installations, credit card and phone bills as well as transfer funds to any bank account or mobile wallet in Bangladesh.

They can also withdraw their cash at any ATM across the country, adds the statement.

More than 200,000 Bangladeshi migrants are currently working in Singapore. They send around $350 million to Bangladesh annually contributing significantly to national development.

Most of them are blue collar professionals who struggle with convenient ways to send money home on a regular basis. Challenges include high costs of remittance, due to fluctuating exchange rates and/or multiple transaction fees, which can sometimes drive them towards informal channels with lower security and transparency to lower costs.

With DBS Remit, automated, affordable and real-time digital remittance facilities are now available to them, so they can remit funds to Bangladesh anytime, anywhere, reads a press release.

Said Rhidoi Krishnakumar, regional head of DBS Remit, "We are very pleased to partner with Brac Bank, one of the most innovative financial institutions in Bangladesh, to enhance our DBS Remit capabilities and provide more accessible, affordable and secure remittances for our customers. We also look forward to enabling remittances to bKash wallet by the end of this year so customers can remit to even more touchpoints across Bangladesh."

"Inward foreign remittance is one of the backbones of our economy, and we're always working hard to facilitate its continuous growth. We joined hands with DBS Bank, the leading digital bank in the world because they, like us, offer their customers the best service experience, backed by the most advanced technologies. We look forward to expand our partnership scopes with DBS in future," said Selim RF Hussain, MD & CEO of Brac Bank.

To facilitate wage earners' remittance inflow to the country, Brac Bank maintains a network of 60+ partnerships with leading exchange houses and banks around the globe.

During the pandemic, the bank worked with United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to design and promote digital remittance channels and disseminate digital financial literacy to Bangladeshi migrants and their families back home.

The bank offers automated and real time remittance settlement in multiple payment modes, including cash, account deposit, and mobile wallet deposit.

Mentionable here that, as an encouragement to send remittance through legal channel, the remittance beneficiaries of the migrants will get 2.5% incentive from the Bangladesh Government.