Kamruzzaman Bablu :
State owned Sonali Bank on Monday signed a deal with PayPal, a worldwide online company, to accelerate hassle free transfer of fund as well as transfer of remittances electrically. As a result, a great opportunity has been opened for Bangladeshi business from now on.
The bank inked the deal after getting permission from the Bangladesh Bank’s Foreign Policy Department to start business operations with PayPal on Sunday.
“We just signed the deal after getting Bangladesh Bank’s permission. Now we will go forward with necessary procedures to take step after the formal signing of the agreement with PayPal so that the service comes into operation soon,” Md Nawab Hossen, principal officer of Foreign Remittance Management Division of Sonali Bank told the New Nation.
“We just have to wait a few days for the service to be launched, that is all,” a highly placed source at Sonali Bank said.
The service will help people and businesses transfer funds, including transfer of remittances, electronically, without any hassle.
PayPal allows individuals and businesses to transfer funds electronically. As it is an online service, an individual first needs to open a PayPal account with a valid email address. The aspiring PayPal user would also need a valid credit card or a bank account linked with PayPal to avail its services.
Bangladesh has been facing difficulty in receiving remittances earned through outsourcing but the new contract with PayPal will make the inflow of remittance easier and faster, said Nawab Hossen.
PayPal makes money by charging transaction fees mainly from business accounts, charging to a payment’s recipient. Although most transactions are free, merchants pay a fee for each transaction. However, it does not charge any fees to send money.
On July 15, 2015, Zunaid Ahmed Palak on a Facebook status said: “We had a very effective meeting with the vice-president of PayPal in San Jose, California. We explained to them in detail about Bangladesh Government’s policies and regulatory reforms and business opportunities for PayPal.”
Palak added: “They have agreed to launch Xoom’s operations in Bangladesh within this quarter. They (PayPal) will also internally discuss on how they can prioritise and launch PayPal in Bangladesh and let us know if they need any further support from our government. We will continue our efforts to bring PayPal to Bangladesh sooner rather than later.”
