Sending money back to Bangladesh

Citi Bangladesh has signed a remittance distribution agreement with BRAC, the worldÆs largest national non-governmental organisation, which has over five million borrowers. Citi is billing this as one of the first such arrangements involving a micro-finance institution in the world.

Under the agreement, BRAC will work with Citi to help facilitate transfer of workers' remittances that come through Citi from all over the world.

BRACÆs micro-finance programme covers all 64 districts of Bangladesh with its 182,497 village organisations, and 3,090 branches. And so, to meet the needs of far-flung people, BRAC deploys more than 20,000 (of its 100,000 employees) to concentrate just on micro-finance.

"This agreement underlines Citi's commitment towards the financial inclusion of micro-finance institutions into the mainstream financial sector, and BRAC's ability to offer a robust distribution channel for the benefits of a wider segment of the population that participate in the economic activities," says Fazle Hasan Abed, a chairperson of BRAC.

"Citi and BRAC both appreciate that a remittance is more than just a transfer, it links families. We will leverage our respective institutions to provide the most comprehensive and efficient global remittance service to Bangladesh," adds Mamun Rashid, managing director and Citi country officer in Bangladesh.