ANZ customers in Australia and New Zealand have transferred over $4.6 million to family and friends in Fiji after the bank introduced the temporary waiver of its $7 international money transfer fee for online foreign currency payments.
ANZ says in the month since the introduction of the fee waiver, customers made more than 8,000 transfers to 10 Pacific countries, totalling almost NZ$15million.
In the same month, the number of online money transfers from New Zealand to the Pacific increased by 86% and transfers from Australia increased by 77%, compared to the same period last year.
ANZ Regional Executive for the Pacific, Tessa Price says remittances is significant to many Pacific economies which can count for up to 25% of a household’s disposable income.
Price says with the islands grappling with the impacts of COVID-19, it’s important that they keep costs low to encourage money flows to where it’s needed.
ANZ Pacific Economist, Kishti Sen says remittances don’t only support household budgets, they help pay for imports and as a result ease the pressure on a nation’s foreign reserves.
In 2019, ANZ customers in Australia and New Zealand made more than 40,000 online transfers to the Pacific, totalling more than NZ$85 million.
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