Axis Bank ties up with Wells Fargo for Inward remittances
MUMBAI: Axis Bank has tied up with Wells Fargo, the third largest American bank by assets, to offer real time remittances from the Indian diaspora to their relatives back home.
Under the arrangement between the two banks, any member of the Indian diaspora with an account with the Wells Fargo will be able to transfer money to their relatives back home and there will be no transaction fee applicable to the money transfers from USA. But the relative or the beneficiary in India will need to have an account with Axis Bank.
“The beneficiary will get a competitive price for a real time transfer. From April 8, we will be waiving transaction fees for Axis Bank customers,” said Daniel Ayala, executive vice president, group head, global remittances service at Wells Fargo.
“The tie-up is the first of its kind with a US banking entity and will offer multiple channels of remittance to our customers,“ said Himadari Chatterjee, president and head, transactional banking at Axis Bank. “There will also be no restrictions on the amount of transfer.” Axis Bank has already finished IT integration with that of Wells Fargo for the purpose.
Wells Fargo has similar tie-ups with ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. The American Bank has so far only tapped private banks as these banks have a large consumer banking base and the bank sees cross selling opportunities through such tie-ups, Ayala said.
Significantly, the tie-up has been signed at a time when remittances to India have been slowing down. In 2016 remittances to India were estimated to have dipped by 5% to $65.5 billion, according to World Bank data. Despite the slowdown in inward remittances to India, Wells Fargo is very bullish on India.
“Remittances from the US have not got affected. Indian community in the Unites States has the largest number of millionaires. India is one of the fastest growing markets for us,” said Ayala, though he refused to divulge the numbers on the business size or India share of remittance business for Wells Fargo.
Under the arrangement between the two banks, any member of the Indian diaspora with an account with the Wells Fargo will be able to transfer money to their relatives back home and there will be no transaction fee applicable to the money transfers from USA. But the relative or the beneficiary in India will need to have an account with Axis Bank.
“The beneficiary will get a competitive price for a real time transfer. From April 8, we will be waiving transaction fees for Axis Bank customers,” said Daniel Ayala, executive vice president, group head, global remittances service at Wells Fargo.
“The tie-up is the first of its kind with a US banking entity and will offer multiple channels of remittance to our customers,“ said Himadari Chatterjee, president and head, transactional banking at Axis Bank. “There will also be no restrictions on the amount of transfer.” Axis Bank has already finished IT integration with that of Wells Fargo for the purpose.
Wells Fargo has similar tie-ups with ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. The American Bank has so far only tapped private banks as these banks have a large consumer banking base and the bank sees cross selling opportunities through such tie-ups, Ayala said.
Significantly, the tie-up has been signed at a time when remittances to India have been slowing down. In 2016 remittances to India were estimated to have dipped by 5% to $65.5 billion, according to World Bank data. Despite the slowdown in inward remittances to India, Wells Fargo is very bullish on India.
“Remittances from the US have not got affected. Indian community in the Unites States has the largest number of millionaires. India is one of the fastest growing markets for us,” said Ayala, though he refused to divulge the numbers on the business size or India share of remittance business for Wells Fargo.
