As per the deal, after depositing the fund, ICBC account holders can withdraw the cash from ICBC locations across China, or exchange the money into local currency and take RMB cash from more than 40,000 ATMs in China.
MoneyGram Asia Pacific region vice president Nick Cunnew said the firm knows that it’s important to their MoneyGram customers who are sending and receiving money to have the additional option to deposit the funds directly and quickly into an ICBC account.
ICBC has been a MoneyGram agent since 1995 and has more than 1,500 locations offering MoneyGram service in about 400 cities.
The MoneyGram direct-to-account service is being sold in combination with MoneyGram’s Japanese agents, SBI Remit and Unidos Co, said the money transfer conglomerate.
World Bank estimates that China received more than $57bn in remittances in 2011, making it the world’s second-largest receiver of money transfers.
The Chinese bank said that the cash-to-account product is a strong expression of the company’s commitment to better serve the needs of Chinese living abroad and their beneficiaries in China.
