- The Al Ansari forex house in the United Arab Emirates recorded more than 110,000 online transactions made via the Al Ansari Exchange mobile app in the month of March alone due to the coronavirus pandemic
- The UAE is undergoing social distancing and lockdown measures like other major economies – and the country’s Central Bank has called for financial services firms to work together
- “We understand that many people rely on us to collect their wages and send money home to their families urgently”, said a spokesperson for Al Ansari
A major Middle Eastern foreign exchange house has seen an impressive rise in the volume of online money transfer transactions carried out through its mobile app.
In a sign that the physical lockdown implemented in many countries could be having positive effects for the international money transfer sector as well as negative ones, the Al Ansari Exchange said that it had experienced a 40% rise in mobile transfers since March kicked off.
Both social distancing and hard lockdown measures are in place to some extent in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the Al Ansari Exchange is based.
It said that in total there had been over 110,000 such transactions made via the Al Ansari Exchange mobile app since the beginning of March.
This was despite the fact that the firm had been able to keep nearly all of its physical branches open to customers.
It said that despite this, 7% of all remittances it processes were being placed through the mobile app.
According to Rashed A. Al Ansari, who is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Al Ansari Exchange, said that many people need to make remittances “urgently” because of the coronavirus pandemic – which continues to claim lives and wreak havoc on economies around the world.
“With the current circumstances, we understand that many people rely on us to collect their wages and send money home to their families urgently; hence, it is important to ensure we can continue serving the public effectively”, he said.
He also added that part of the reason behind the development was a call to action from the country’s central bank, which had asked financial institutions to work together.
“It’s an important time for the whole local financial sector as we implement several initiatives to limit the spread of Covid-19”, he said.
“We follow the UAE Central Bank’s call to stand strong together to serve the local community through various digital platforms and contact centres.”
He appeared to be under the impression that the payments infrastructure in the major oil-exporting, expat-friendly nation would withstand the pressure.
“As far as the UAE’s remittance sector is concerned, we are confident that it is well positioned to mitigate the current and upcoming challenges”, he added.
The coronavirus pandemic is having knock-on effects for every sector, and the cross border payments world is not going to be an exception.
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