NCC Bank, TMSS launch remittance payment project

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FE Report
National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank Limited, in consortium with Thengamara Mohila Sabuj Sangha (TMSS), has launched a foreign remittance payment project aiming to transfer remittances, sent by expatriates, faster to the families in rural areas.
NCC bank Ltd and TMSS, a reputed NGO of the country, signed a partnership agreement to this effect in collaboration with the Bangladesh Bank and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in a city hotel Thursday.
The NCC Bank initiative, the first of its kind in Bangladesh, will be launched in April next to reach the remittances in a faster and easier way to the beneficiaries.
The NCC Bank-TMSS efforts will help improve the remittance processing and payment system in Bangladesh, the central bank governor, Saleh Uddin Ahmed, said while speaking as chief guest at the agreement signing ceremony.
Chris Austin, country representative of DFID, Khandaker Muzharul Haque, executive director of BB, Tofazzal Hossain, chairmen, Md Nurul Amin, managing director, of NCC Bank Ltd, and AKM Fazlul Hoque Mojumder, director of TMSS, spoke on the occasion.
"We think such efforts of the financial organisations will encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to use formal channel in remitting money home," he said.
Over the last few decades, BB governor Salehuddin Ahmed said, inflow of remittances did not only contribute to the economy of the country it also made financial institutions healthier.
The project will also enable TMSS to expand its financial activities to the poorer section of the society, he said.
In the first phase, the NCC Bank-TMSS project worth Tk 80 million, including Tk 60 million coming from the Bangladesh Bank and DFID joint initiative of Remittances and Payments Challenge Fund (RPCF), will enable installation of electronic point of sale (POS) technology in all the 53 NCC Bank branches and 250 remote branches of TMSS.
The beneficiaries of remittance will be provided with free debit and prepaid cards, which will allow them to transact an amount equal to remittance.