Commercial Bank is planning to expand its ‘60 Seconds Remittance’ service to the UK and other European markets over the next few months, said bank’s executive general manager (consumer banking) Amit Sah.
A first-of-its-kind service in Qatar, it allows customers to send money almost instantly to their home country accounts in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and The Philippines.
The service has become “very popular”, which is evident from Commercial Bank recording in excess of 1mn transactions since it was launched in June 2017.
In terms of the number of customers, India is the most popular country to send remittances to, using Commercial Bank’s ‘60 Seconds Remittance’ service.
Sah said Commercial Bank provides banking service to nearly one-third of employed people in Qatar. Official data indicates that “more than 95% of the expatriate population has a need to send money home”.
Explaining the reasons for designing the product, Sah said, “Based on our survey, we found out the need to create an ultra-competitive service to meet the needs of a large customer base. It should be instant, round-the-clock, cost-efficient and convenient. Our solution was the 60 Seconds Remittance service.”
“Customer service is at the heart of everything we do. We knew that our expatriate customers wanted a quicker, simpler way of sending remittances to banks in their home countries, and we were determined to provide it to them. For Commercial Bank, the future of banking is digital, and we want to be pioneers of this change in Qatar.”
Addressing a media roundtable at the Commercial Bank Plaza yesterday, Sah said all Commercial Bank customers could access this service through Commercial Bank Internet Banking and Mobile Banking App.
Customers can use the Commercial Bank Internet Banking and Mobile Banking App to instantly send money to banks in India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
The service is available to as many as 28 banks in India, 35 banks in the Philippines, 26 banks in Sri Lanka, 29 banks in Pakistan and 28 banks in Nepal. It covers 95% of banks in each country.
The ‘Commercial Bank Internet Banking and Mobile Banking’ App services have scored highly in its customer feedback surveys. In the last survey, Commercial Bank scored 94% overall satisfaction (94% for security and ease of login, 93% for range of services, design and ease of use and 92% for reliability).
The Net Promoter Score for the Commercial Bank Internet Banking and Mobile Banking App services was 72, Sah revealed.
Asked about the product’s impact on Commercial Bank’s bottom line, Sah said, “Commercial Bank and its subsidiaries and associates reported a net profit of QR855mn in H1, 2018. This is a 376% increase compared to the same period in 2017. Undoubtedly, our continued introduction of new and innovative products in retail banking – most notably the 60 Second Remittance service – plays a role in attracting and maintaining customers and, therefore, driving profit.”
