UNB launches campaign to encourage Egyptian expatriates to transfer money to Egypt

Union National Bank Egypt (UNB), in cooperation with its parent group in UAE, launched a campaign called “Transfer your money to your beloved in Egypt”.

The service allows the bank’s clients in the UAE to transfer money without any fees. The free bank transfers are in US dollars and Egyptian pounds. This service originated because of the bank’s interest in supporting the Egyptian economy and providing better services for its clients.

According to the bank, the campaign will last until June 30, to provide better services for Egyptians living in the UAE by easing the transfer operations process to their relatives and friends in Egypt.

The bank also offers a group of incentives to encourage Egyptians living in the UAE to transfer their money. The person sending money can enter drawings to win a prize, such as round trips to Egypt as well as free stay in Egyptian hotels.

The bank said in a statement that the campaign is in line with the bank’s strategy, which aims to diversify its products to meet the clients’ needs. The campaign allows the clients to communicate with their families and loved ones constantly, while benefiting from the bank’s services in Egypt through more than 40 branches nationwide.

With the aim of encouraging Egyptian transfers, UNB-Egypt also developed its SMS service to include clients outside Egypt through UNB-instant service.

UNB-UAE also provides unprecedented services in this matter, all of them help in offering competitive services for those working abroad to transfer their savings easily. These services include a technical part through UNB-PAY, which electronically connects UNB-Egypt with UNB-UAE or through easing transferring procedures.

The bank aims to reach a higher level of satisfaction among its clients and encourage them to transfer their money at a minimum cost and in record time. UNB-INSTANT allows account holders to observe their accounts constantly, which will contribute in developing their transactions.

The UNB group has branches in Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, and China as well as correspondent banks all over the world, which make it the perfect channel to manage expatriates’ savings and transactions. It is an efficient link between them and their mother country.

As part of its expansion plan, UNB recently opened nine new branches in Sohag, Banha, Damanhour, Shebin El-Koum, Minya, Zamalek, Heliopolis, Maadi, and Mohandeseen. These branches were opened in less than two months, bringing the number of bank branches to 41.

Moreover, the bank plans to open two new branches before the end of Q1 of 2016, in addition to launching a number of new services and products to meet the different needs of the customers.

The bank decided to launch the governmental bills payment service, UNB-Utility, that enables customers to pay all their monthly bills through the bank. The bank also offers the option to conduct all banking transactions through phone, UNB-IVR, and through SMSs, UNB-Instant.

The bank aims to provide a number of diversified services and meet all the needs of its varied customer base, in addition to funding the small and medium projects. The bank will achieve this via its geographical expansion plans, its ATMs network, and its phone banking services.

UNB-Egypt was the first commercial bank in the Egyptian market to obtain the certificate of Integrated Management System (IMS) from M/s Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) Ltd. The certificate comprises of three standards: ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.

2015 was a significant year for UNB. The bank obtained the certificate of Excellence in Business Leadership from the American Liberty University. In addition, it was awarded the Best Business Leader Award certificate as one of the Most Influential Business Leaders in the Middle East, North Africa & Asia Markets.

The bank was also awarded the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award Diamond Category for the second time; the bank is the first institution in the Emirates to obtain this award two times in a row.

As for the social aspect, UNB-Egypt participated as the main sponsor of Dar Al Maaref’s 125 year celebration in 2015.

In order to develop its risk measurement methods, UNB-Egypt contracted with the well-known Bloomberg to provide services of Value at Risk (VAR), which are along the same lines as their newest international measures.

Source: Daily News Egypt

Date and Time: 23/01/2016, 14:30GMT

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Climbing The Cross-Border Mountain

While there may be a trillion dollar cross-border commerce opportunity out there ready for the taking, the move to actually tap into the market is not as easy as it looks. Hikmet Ersek, CEO of Western Union, sat down with MPD CEO Karen Webster to discuss how the cross-border market is evolving and how decades of investment in compliance and risk management is a mountain too tall for most others to easily scale.

The cross-border market may in fact be lucrative, but getting there is no easy feat.

The act of moving money from Point A to Point B may seem simple, but Ersek pointed out that when that movement is happening across borders, it can easily take as many as 112 steps.

From having the right licenses in place to dealing with regulation from all sides, and also ensuring transactions are authenticated and secure with anti-money laundering and fraud controls – transferring money globally is hard work that is often underestimated.

Essentially, it costs money to move money.

Many businesses, especially those whose core business isn’t payments, are quickly learning that the journey to cross-border payments is ripe with a unique set of challenges.

But in reality, many of the companies looking to take advantage of the opportunities cross-border can bring just want to enable payments. As Webster noted, it’s unrealistic to expect these businesses to transform into payments players — frankly, it’s just too hard.

Ersek said that as companies begin to realize how many customers they would like to serve around the world and do their homework about how to go about it, they immediately realize the challenges they face if they wanted to build out a set of cross-border payments capabilities.

“The complexity of the business has definitely been our competitive advantage as well as the uniqueness of understanding the business,” Ersek explained. “The investments made over the years in our IT systems, compliance systems and changing our settlement systems have turned out to be the real stability of our business and now a barrier to entry for others.”

Back in November, Western Union announced its partnership with WeChat, Tencent’s popular messaging app, to allow cross-border payments for U.S. users to more than 200 countries and territories through Western Union’s WU Connect service. The technology platform integrates with consumer messaging and social media platforms, like WeChat’s extensive network of users, to facilitate money transfers throughout the world.

Ersek said that Western Union’s service with WeChat, which he described as being like “Venmo for cross-border,” is still in beta testing at this time. The partnership will enable lower-value, ad hoc transactions, which supports use cases for a variety of people that send money at different frequencies.

As Western Union continues its efforts to be seen as more than just a money transfer company, Ersek said it plans to serve other brands like WeChat in order to grow its business in different customer segments.

With more and more businesses making the decision to throw their hats into the global cross-border money movement ring, Ersek expects those companies will look to Western Union as a partner in enabling cross-border payments. “Why would they want to go through the time and the pain in every single country to set up banking licenses, when they can leverage our platform, operations and competency to make cross-border payments happen for them?”

The company now operates in 16,000 corridors. And keeping money moving safely and conveniently has taken a great deal of time and effort over the last 20 years, Ersek explained.

“Most of the money is good money, but one transaction can destroy your reputation,” Ersek pointed out. Which is why the company devotes nearly 25 percent of its 10,000 person workforce to compliance and ensures its systems are constantly upgraded and checked.

Ersek said he is optimistic about the growth Western Union will have in 2016 and expects much of that to come from digital and mobile initiatives as the business continues to move into payments services.

“I feel quite comfortable that we have the right platform for the future,” he stated. “In the past we were seen as just a remittance or money transfer company and that has definitely changed. We are a financial technology company moving value cross-border in seconds.”

Source: PYMNTS.COM

Date: 09/01/2015

Time: 13:18

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Somalia: Son of slain Somali political activist sues Dahabshiil money-transfer over bounty

star tribune-The son of a Somali singer and political activist gunned down by Al-Shabab operatives last year is suing an international money-transfer company with ties to Minnesota for allegedly paying a bounty on her life.

The lawsuit comes more than a year after the death of Saado Ali Warsame, 64, a Somali icon who lived in New York and Minneapolis before returning to her homeland in 2012.

Her longtime push for social justice included roles in pushing out the country’s military regime and becoming one of the country’s first female members of parliament. Her death was mourned from Mogadishu to Minneapolis.

The lawsuit may mark the first time a company has been sued for providing funding to Al-Shabab, said Joshua Arisohn, an attorney for Warsame’s 22-year-old son Harbi Hussein, who lives in Minneapolis.

Not long before her death, Warsame pointed her criticism toward Dahabshiil, Africa’s largest money-transfer business, which facilitates most of the $1.6 billion sent to Somalia each year.

The company, which houses a subsidiary headquarters in Minneapolis, is widely used by Minnesota Somalis to wire money to relatives back home, but it has been under international scrutiny for a lack of security in how money is transferred — and to whom, including potential terrorists in Somalia.

Last year, the Kenyan government temporarily suspended Dahabshiil’s operations after an Al-Shabab-led attack at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in 2013. Several western commercial banks have ceased doing business with Dahabshiil, in part out of concerns over terrorist financing, according to the lawsuit.
Warsame was an outspoken critic of the company, writing a protest song playing off the business’ name, which means “gold smelter.” She instead called Dahabshiil a “blood smelter” and urged Somalis not to do business there. A music video by Warsame featured a rifle dripping with blood next to the company’s name.

According to the lawsuit, Dahabshiil “placed a multimillion-dollar bounty” on Warsame as a result of the song. She was killed in July 2014 by two Al-Shabab operatives in Mogadishu; they were sentenced to death and executed in May.

The lawsuit demands damages for pain and suffering by Hussein because of the loss of his mother. He declined a comment through Arisohn.

Arisohn, whose New York-based law firm has handled terror financing cases for nine years, said others could be out there.

“We are working hard to unearth all of the institutions who are financing terrorism, and I think it’s incumbent on the government and private citizens alike to investigate these matters and make sure that financial institutions like Dahabshiil are putting in place the safeguards that they are supposed to have,” Arisohn said.

Dahabshiil did not respond to a request for comment.

Arisohn said he intends to get the case to trial as quickly as possible on behalf of Hussein.

“It’s devastating whenever you lose a parent, but to lose your mother who was bravely trying to help a country in dire need and was assassinated, it truly is devastating,” he said.

Source: Mareeg.com

Time: 07:43 pm GMT

Date: 13/12/2015

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Zeepay, Small World FS Launch Mobile Money Wallets Partnership in Ghana

Payments provider Small World FS and Ghanaian mobile financial services aggregator Zeepay have struck a partnership to offer mobile money wallets in Ghana.

The deal will effectively give access to remittances from around the world to some six million people in the West African country who rely on them as a source of livelihood. The mobile money wallet service will allow for emigrants around the world to send money directly into Ghanaian bank accounts or local mobile wallets.

Ghana is the destination for over $1 billion in international remittances, out of a total $44 billion for the whole of Africa. The country has been seeing a fast progress in mobile payments services: the past 12 month saw more than 130 million transactions, performed via 7 million mobile wallets, according to Small World FS.

Small World boasts a global network of 250,000 payments destinations, focusing on the quick and hassle-free delivery of payments from point A to point B.

New Payments Ecosystem

Zeepay works with a range of mobile network operators and money transfer providers with a view to creating a new retail payment ecosystem in Ghana.

Africa is leading the way globally in mobile money

Commenting on the partnership, Chief Executive Officer Nick Day, said: “Africa is leading the way globally in mobile money, and today’s announcement is another step forward in this revolution.”

Zeepay co-founder Andrew Takyi-Appiah added: “ For the first time, an African emigrant can send money directly to a Mobile Money Wallet, simply by inputting the recipient’s Mobile Money number.”

There are currently some 78 million mobile wallets in Africa, according to BMI Research data, cited by Small World FS, and this is projected to expand to over 100 million by the end of this year.

Source: Finance Magnets

Date: 12/04/2015

Time: 11:45 GMT

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Growing demand for international money transfer in UK

As the world becomes smaller, many people find that their loved ones are overseas – but the connections between them are as strong as ever. In fact, visits abroad to see friends and family are steadily increasing, and as a result, so is demand for international money transfer

The rise of cross-border trips – and money transfer

Figures from the ONS show that the number of visits abroad to see friends and family grew by 7.8% last year, while visits to the UK for the same reason were up 4.8%. In fact, around 323,000 Brits left the country last year to start a new life abroad, which means that international money transfer is now becoming routine for many.

However, this doesn't mean that banks are the sole providers of such services. The currency exchange sector is thriving in its own right, and many of the biggest players are individual companies, and are often chosen by consumers who are unwilling to tolerate the high fees that are often levied by banks: banks typically charge between 5-8% in remittance fees which can seriously add up, and as a result, many travellers and expats are looking elsewhere.

Reasons to transfer cash

Research from global transfer firm Xpress Money shows that thousands of UK consumers have transferred funds overseas, with some of the top reasons for doing so (and associated points to consider) being:

• Transfers to family and friends, typically for emergencies, one-off gifts or regular financial support.
• Property. Buying or selling property abroad can be an expensive business, which means fees and exchange rates are a serious consideration, and is why shopping around for a competitive money transfer service is so important.
• Paying bills. Whether you've got a property abroad that requires mortgage payments and regular upkeep, or you're travelling and need to make sure your bills at home are taken care of, fixing the exchange rate and setting up a scheduled payment can be an easy way to ensure that all bills are paid on time while you're abroad.
• Salary transfers, where you'll need a simple way to send money home if you work overseas.
• Emigration. If you're looking to relocate overseas, ensuring your money travels with you is a priority, which is where the right money transfer service can come in.

Continued innovation

Demand for money transfer may be higher than ever, but so is the level of innovation in the sector, with data from Juniper Research estimating that the number of mobile money transfers is set to increase by 150% in 2015 to total more than 15 billion – and by all accounts, it could increase further in the years to come, with new mobile platforms constantly in development to offer more versatility and ease of transfer than ever before.

Source: Money Facts

Web: www.moneyfacts.co.uk

Date: 26/11/2015

Time: 20:45 GMT

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Rickshaw Pullers made Director to launder BLACK MONEY through “Bank of Baroda”

Startling facts in the money laundering scam in Bank of Baroda to the tune of Rs  6,172 crore, which was busted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), are coming out as the investigation progresses. 

The hoarders have roped in people living in slum areas and doing petty businesses and even rickshaw-pullers to act as directors of fake companies only to be used for transferring huge amounts of money to foreign countries. The launderers paid them Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per month and opened accounts in Bank of Baroda in the name of the fake companies. 

The modus operandi of these black money operators was to approach people and take their Voter ID card. With the help of their Voter ID details, they take PAN cards for them and open the bank account in Bank of Baroda and in Hong Kong. They did the same process for 59 fake companies. 

Few businessmen with the help of Bank of Baroda Ashok Vihar branch Assistant General Manager SK Garg and Head of Foreign Exchange Division Jainish Dubey operated the black money transfer in May, 2015. 

Once the accounts were open, the transfer of money through the fake companies belonging to either exporters or importers would take place. To do big transactions, they overvalued the goods.

Enforcement Directorate in its release said that, "For such overvaluation, such exporters require foreign exchange in the foreign country equivalent to overvaluation. While importing the goods, the importers undervalued the imports to save the custom duty, they require availability of foreign exchange in the foreign country to pay the differences."

Source: Sakshipost

Date: 23/11/2015

Time: 16:24 GMT

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Mobile Money Transfer Taking Over Banks Services

Internet Banking is changing the banking industry, having the major effects on banking relationships. Banking is now no longer confined to the branches where one has to approach the branch in person, to withdraw cash or deposit a cheque or request a statement of accounts.

In true Internet banking, any inquiry or transaction is processed online without any reference to the branch (anywhere banking) at any time.

Providing Internet banking is increasingly becoming a "need to have" than a "nice to have" service. The net banking, thus, now is more of a norm rather than an exception in many developed countries due to the fact that it is the cheapest way of providing banking services.

In Ghana the fastest growing electronic banking is the mobile money transfer within the various telecommunications companies in the country.

With close observations on the market, schools and businesses in the country, mobile money has been growing very rapidly due to the demand of customers who transact business using that channel.

In an interview with the managing director of Cal Bank limited, Frank Adu Jnr. explained that the impact of e-banking is gradually taking over the services of banks in the country.

According to Mr. Adu Jnr. after conducting a survey the bank realized that the underprivileged, semi- literate, illiterate people enjoy the e-banking more than the educated ones with the reason being that they receive an alert right after they have sent the money and that alone makes them enjoy the service more than any other banking services

He added that the banks are planning to collaborate with the mobile companies to service customers in the mobile money services because failure to do so will lead banks to lose their customers to the mobile companies.

In an interview with Emmanuel Ala, a student, he told the DAILY HERITAGE that he has been using the mobile money transfer for a year and half now to pay his fees because his parents believe it is the best way to send him money without they travelling over to his school to pay the fees.

According to him, mobile money though sometimes very annoying to use due to network failure but it is the fastest way of sending money to families and relatives because staying in a long queue at the bank can waste one’s precious time.

He said “Mobile money transaction is the best for me because it is the fastest way of getting money from relatives without wasting much time because the moment you receive an alert you can go to the mobile company for your money without any delay.”

Dr. Henry Kofi Wampah, governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG) at a press briefing said the central bank is putting in place systems and platform to monitor the activities of the mobile money business in order to put appropriate measures to make the system easy to deal with.

Also Janet Sackey, a business woman said she has diverted sending money through the banks for her business to mobile money because it has made her business move faster because when she needs goods from her clients she sends the money to them through the mobile money transfer system and within ten minutes she receives confirmation from the clients to expect the items needed.

Source: Peace FM Online

Date: 22/11/2015

Time: 13:42 GMT

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Top-10 Remittance Receiving Countries by Country Income Group

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UK banks hardest hit by non-bank money transfer firms

The FXcompared International Money Transfer Index (IMTI) incorporates data for mid-range transactions between £1000-£10,000 from all major banks in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. The top 20 non-bank money transfer providers based in the UK now account for over £40 billion of foreign exchange per year, saving customers over £900 million annually, according to data compiled by FXcompared.

The figures show the impact of increased competition from non-bank providers such as Transfer Wise and World First in the UK market and the dampening effect of competition on bank fees. While UK banks charge an average of 3.6% on a £10,000 transaction compared to an average of just 0.9% charged by non-bank providers, they still provide better value than their counterparts in other markets where licensing issues and regulatory hurdles have proved formidable barriers to entry.


UK customers save, for example, about 36% on a £10,000 transaction compared to sending the equivalent amount in Australia.


Nonetheless, for every £10,000 transferred internationally, UK customers are typically receiving just £9,640 worth of their foreign currency when using a bank, compared to £9,910 when using a non-bank provider.


FXcompared managing director, Daniel Webber, “The FXcompared IMTI will provide greater transparency for a fast-changing, growing industry that is experiencing big technology shifts as non-bank providers become more prominent. As the international money transfer market continues to change, this type of data will support the market’s development and help banks, non-bank providers and customers better understand the industry and make more informed decisions about moving money overseas.”

Source: Fin Extra

Date: 21/11/2015

Time: 09:25 GMT

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Zimbabwe migrants send home nearly $2 billion, easing misery of relatives facing economic ruin

When Nyarai Goredema lost her job as a manager with Harare-based Msasa Steel in June, she sold some of her possessions and put her home on the market. When no one offered to buy it, she turned to her son who works at a bank in neighbouring South Africa for support.

“It’s harsh on me and on him,” the 48-year-old widow, who lives on the $500 to $1,000 her son sends her each month, said by phone. “In all my life it has never been this tough.”

About 3 million of Zimbabwe’s 13 million people have left the country in the past 15 years as policies pursued by President Robert Mugabe’s government have driven much of the southern African nation to ruin. The money they send to those left behind is playing an ever-increasing role in shoring up an economy plagued by deflation and a jobless rate estimated at 95% by the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations.

Zimbabweans living abroad are expected to send home $2 billion this year, up from $1.8 billion last year, central bank Governor John Mangudya said Aug. 29.

Remittances equated to about 13% of gross domestic product in 2014, outstripping all export income besides minerals, which the Chamber of Mines says earned the country $1.85 billion. An increased use of electronic money transfers is being driven by the proliferation of smartphones and Internet access.

”A substantial percentage of the population would be severely constrained without remittances,” John Robertson, an independent economist based in Harare, said by phone. “The irony is that people driven to greener pastures outside the country are the same people, to a significant extent, who keep ordinary Zimbabweans going within the country.”

While the central bank recorded remittances of $3.5 billion entering Zimbabwe between 2009 and 2014, its data excludes undeclared payouts brought in by so-called runners—minibus taxi drivers who ply routes between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Based on a trust system, Zimbabwean migrants hand over cash to be delivered to relatives back home.

The runners, who also ferry groceries, kitchen appliances and other goods, charge fees of between one percent and 10%, and haggling is standard practice, Nixon Moyo, who operates the route between Johannesburg and Harare, said in an interview.

While the money-transfer market has long been dominated by Englewood, Colorado-based Western Union Co., Dallas, Texas-based MoneyGram International Inc. and London- based Mukuru.com, the market is opening up.

New entrants include Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Ltd., the nation’s largest mobile-phone operator, which in partnership with U.K.-based transfer service WorldRemit Ltd., is offering a service that enables Zimbabweans living abroad to send money home through Econet’s 13,000 agents.

Mama Money, a Cape Town-based money transfer company has about 10,000 regular customers who send money to Zimbabwe. It charges 5% commission, with all transactions taking place online or by mobile phone.

“New technology shouldn’t just make it easier, it should also make it much cheaper” to transfer cash, Mama Money spokesman Matt Coquillon said by phone. “The aim should be to bring down commission rates to as near zero as possible and we don’t see why that can’t happen.”

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s most expensive region to send money home, with average commission rates of 9.8% comparing with a global norm of 7.5%, according to the World Bank.

The increase in competition, falling costs and new technology are a boon for Goredema. 

”It’s much easier now because my son can send money by phone,” she said. “He doesn’t even need to go into a bank or post office like in the old days and I can get my money on my phone which also makes life easier.”

Source: Mail and Guardian Africa

Time: 18:00 GMT

Date: 19/11/2015

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