Combank-ria Financial Services partner for remittances
Commercial Bank of Ceylon has tied up with Ria Financial Services, the third largest money transfer company in the world, substantially enhancing its offering in the sphere of remittances.
This paves the way for Sri Lankans to collect from Commercial Bank branches monies remitted from any of the 140,000 locations of Ria’s global network in 140 countries on six continents. Some of the locations covered by Ria’s network include key corridors such as the USA, Canada, Italy, Cyprus, Au s t r a l i a F r a n c e, the UK, Ger many, Switzerland and the agreement will also open up new corridors for remittance offering, the bank said.
Commercial Bank commences this service with Ria deploying web service connectivity using the latest communication technolo g y, becoming the first to do so in the entire South Asian region for Ria. This unique system will enable the bank to payout remittances routed from Ria’s large network of agents on a real time basis and will also enable the bank to process payments to accounts as well.
As a second step, the bank plans to upgrade its ATMS for cardless payments for Ria remittance-beneficiaries who may not be customers of the bank. Presently, money can be credited to USD/ GBP/EUR accounts of Commercial Bank. This facility would be extended to any bank account in Sri Lanka shortly, the bank said.
This latest ag reement with a global player in the area of money transfers is a significant further expansion of the remittance services offered by the bank.
“Strategic ties with global players and a strong and steadily growing network of branches in Sri Lanka have made Commercial Bank’s offering in the area of remittances attractive for both remitters and their beneficiaries,” the bank’s De puty General Manager Operations Sanath Bandaranayake said. “Commercial Bank remains committed to f urther strengthening its partner network, especially i n areas with a large Sri Lankan expatriate population.”
Commercial Bank operates an extensive network of branches in the country, some of which maintain dedicated counters for remittances. More than 10 service points offer 365-day banking for the convenience of beneficiaries of remittances. The bank also operates a 24-hour Banking Centre in Katunayake.
Founded in 1987, Ria Financial Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. Ria is a recognised financial service leader and a leading specialist in international money transfers which provides fast, reliable and secure money transfer services using state-ofthe-art technology.
Commercial Bank is the largest private bank i n Sri Lanka, and the only Sri Lankan bank listed in the world’s Top 1,000 Banks. It operates a network of 214 service points in Sri Lanka and the country’s single largest network of 512 ATMS. The bank has been adjudged ‘ Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ for 14 consecutive years by the ‘ Global Finance’ magazine and has won multiple awards as the country’s best bank from ‘ The Banker,’ ‘Financeasia,’ ‘Euromoney’ and ‘Trade Finance’ magazines.