KARACHI: Leading digital money transfer service, WorldRemit, has announced to offer its customers zero fees for transfers of $210 or more to Pakistan, read an official handout on Monday.

WorldRemit has introduced the fee waiver to further support its overseas Pakistani customers and maximize the impact of the money they send home. Pakistanis living in over 50 countries, including the USA, UK and Australia, can now send fee free, fast and secure money transfers to Pakistan directly from their phones to recipients with or without access to a bank account, read the statement.

Customers can choose to transfer money to Pakistan for cash collection, bank deposit or mobile money.

The World Bank estimates that the Pakistani diaspora sent home over $20 billion in 2018, representing nearly 7% of the country’s GDP. 

However, a significant portion of remittances to Pakistan are still sent through informal channels, which can at times be expensive and puts customers at risk of delayed delivery times or fraud.

"The WorldRemit fee waiver has been introduced as the company joins the Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI), a joint program by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis to encourage Pakistanis living overseas to use formal money transfer methods to send money home," according to the statement.

Hamza Islam, Country Director for Pakistan at WorldRemit, said: “We are delighted to enable our customers to make fast, secure and fee free money transfers to Pakistan with a few taps from their phones. The fee waiver is applied automatically, and customers can follow their money’s journey at every step using our ‘Track your Transfer’ function."

"By bearing the cost of sending remittances, the Government of Pakistan is incentivizing Pakistanis to send money without fees via more secure and convenient formal channels,” he said.

Mr, Moinuddin, Head of PRI and Divisional Head EPD at State Bank of Pakistan, said: “By enabling trusted remittance providers to waive their fees, we are offering the Diaspora a cheaper and more secure way to send money back home to support their loved ones and contribute to Pakistan’s bright future.”