RIYADH: Estimating more than SR150 billion of remittances sent from the Kingdom in 2016, a top Saudi banker here on Saturday has ranked the country as one of the top remittance-sending nations in the world.
The bulk of the remittances have been sent to different countries by about 10.5 million foreign workers amid predictions that the money transfers will be slightly lower in 2017 compared to last year.
Hussam Abdullah Al-Hayyaf, chief executive officer of Ersal Money Transfer, said: “The money sent out of the Kingdom as per Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) was around SR150 billion by the end of 2016.”
Al-Hayyaf said that he did not foresee major drop in remittances this year. He pointed out that India, Pakistan and Yemen are the top recipients of remittances sent from Saudi Arabia.
Spelling out the expansion plan of Ersal Money Transfer, a SAMA-licensed remittance company formed by Saudi Post and Alinma Bank, Al-Hayyaf said that “Ersal is planning to reach 60 branches by the end of 2017.”
Currently, Ersal has 50 branches across the Kingdom, which facilitates sending remittances directly to the bank accounts of the customers in several countries in different parts of the world.
He said that “we have also tied up with Western Union, which can remit money to any place around the globe instantly and it has about 600,000 outlets around the world.
“Also, as part of new services that we are planning to provide for our valued customers is that our customers can make money transfer online from their homes or places of work or from anywhere in the world,” he added.
“We at Ersal have facilities to send money to any country in the world through Western Union service or through our correspondent banks in different countries in Asia or Africa,” he said, while referring to Pakistan or India or Philippines, where the remittances can reach on the same day or in 30 minutes to a bank account or within minutes through Western Union.
The Ersal CEO also pointed out that there are no charges for sending remittances to Pakistan, whereas Ersal charges only SR15 for money transfer to other countries.
“In fact, we have a good relationship with many reputable and famous banks and we are in continuous process to make stronger ties and build relationships with different banks around the world as per the growth in our customers’ base,” he added.
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