CIMB starts money transfer to 5 Asean nations

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd today launched its international money transfer service, SpeedSend, to Myanmar, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Group deputy chief executive officer and Head of Consumer Banking Renzo Viegas said the service would also be launched in Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and South Europe over the next few months.

SpeedSend was launched as a pilot service to Indonesia and Philippines in September last year.

Viegas said Bank CIMB Niaga in Indonesia and CIMB Thai also provided the SpeedSend service.

“SpeedSend is truly a unique offering that we have at CIMB Bank and we can cross-sell to other financial institutions as well as money transfer agents as a fast, convenient and reliable money transfer service,” he said after launching the SpeedSend service to the five Asian countries.

He said Malaysia was a growing market for money transfer activities in the region due to the influx of million of foreign workers into the country.

Viegas said in 2010, an estimated RM21 billion (US$7 billion) in remittance outflow was reported by the World Bank.

“We believe SpeedSend will be able to capture the market, given the strong presence of CIMB Group retail branches at more than 1,100 locations in Asean, as well as, partnering banks and agents across the region,” he added.

CIMB Group, Malaysia’s second largest financial services provider, had a retail branch network of 1,113 branches in Asean as at June 30, 2012. — BERNAMA