IndusInd Bank has today announced its partnership with Wise, the global technology company specializing in moving and managing money around the world, to offer online inward remittance services to Non Resident Indians (NRIs) residing in US and Singapore, the company announced through an exchange filing.
Induslnd Bank's multi-partner remittance service platform - Indus Fast Remit (IFR) and Wise Platform have integrated to offer multi-currency inward remittance service to NRIs. The integration of IFR and Wise Platform also marks the launch of Wise Platform, Wise's infrastructure offering for banks and non-banks, in India.
This partnership will enable customers of IndusInd Bank - Indus Fast Remit' to transfer money from 2 global markets namely the US and Singapore at highly competitive forex rates where they will be able to compare rates and know the exact credit amount without any markup being levied. The conventional way of cross-border money movement through traditional financial institutions typically involves high charges and hidden fees. Indeed, an earlier study conducted by Capital Economics found that people sending money into India from abroad paid over Rs 21900 crores on foreign exchange fees in 2020, of which roughly Rs 7900 crores were hidden as exchange rate markups on currency conversions. The remaining Rs 14000 crores were spent on transaction fees.
IndusInd Bank's customers can access Wise's lightning fast and low cost international money transfers directly through the Bank's Indus Fast Remit platform or its Internet banking platform. Customers will have visibility over their transfer status and estimated arrival time. Additionally, transfers are fast - about 55% of transfers sent through Wise are instant (less than 20 seconds). Furthermore, the process to initiate a transfer can be done online without visiting bank branches or going through the hassle of any paperwork.
Through this collaboration, NRIs can book remittance transactions on IndusInd Bank Indus Fast Remit platform and credit to beneficiary will be routed under Rupee Drawing Arrangement (RDA) scheme of RBI through Wise's RDA partners in India. Indus Fast Remit platform will also facilitate NRI customers to open Non Resident External (NRE) / Non Resident Ordinary (NRO) accounts with Induslnd Bank, apart from using the remittance services.
