Remittance fee to Subcontinent up

Most of the major money exchanges in the UAE have raised fee to remit higher value of money to certain Asian countries.

A source at a money exchange said that people remitting more than 50,000 rupees or taka to Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka will have to pay Dh5 more while remitting money.

The hike is not applicable to those remitting funds to Pakistan.

He said the decision was taken by the Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (Ferg).

An official at a money exchange said the fee hike will mainly impact the corporates not the labourers because majority of them remit money below 50,000 rupees. “We have corporate clients who’ve over 300 big transactions. This will impact them.”

He said most of the major exchange houses have decided to hike fee. “It may not involve smaller players, but most of the big players have increased fee by Dh5”.

Industry players estimated that money remitted from the UAE totalled around $13 billion (Dh48 billion) in 2012.

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