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Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-04-02
CONTENTS
[01] NBG offers easy access to cash transfer abroad
[01] NBG offers easy access to cash transfer abroad
The National Bank of Greece on Monday announced a new ATM service for
citizens of other countries who are living and working in Greece, which
enables them to send money back home securely and speedily, 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.
National Bank's ATMs were recently upgraded to allow for this new
service from more than 1,300 spots around the country.
The service is available to all customers who open up the new "Family
Fast" account, which is addressed to citizens of other countries
living in Greece, and offers a range of privileges in addition to
this innovative method of sending remittances. For the time being,
the destination countries for remittances via National Bank ATMs are
Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, India, Moldova, Ukraine, Pakistan,
Romania, Russia and the Philippines. Gradually, the system will
incorporate more countries. National Bank (NBG) vice president Ioannis
Pechlivanidis, presenting the new product, stressed the importance that
the Bank places on incorporating these citizens into the banking
system. He particularly referred to the citizens of countries in which
the National Bank Group has an active presence, noting the ability of
serving those citizens and their families through the National Bank
branches in those countries. The customers who choose NBG Albania, or
UBB in Bulgaria, or Banca Romaneasca in Romania, as the destination
bank, will also have a 50 percent discount on the cost of the
remittance, which will be returned to the customer's account at the end
of the month of the transaction, he explained. Apart from this
innovative way of sending remittances, the Family Fast package also has
a substantially low cost that renders it particularly attractive,
according to NBG. More specifically, the cost of sending remittances
via the National Bank ATMs is 10 euros per transaction, compared to 17
euros per transaction for executing the same transaction at the counter
inside the bank. The fee is deducted from the customer's account at the
time of the transaction, and covers expenses incurred to the Bank
abroad. Consequently, the recipient of the remittance will not pay any
other charge at the other end. The other privileges contained in the
package are automatic payment of utility bills, for as long as the
account is active, without any surcharge; free issue of the
international ETHNOcash card for direct access to a customer's account
from ATMs outside Greece; free transfer of money from account to
account within the National Bank system; ability to pay mobile
telephony bills, insurance premiums or various subscriptions via
standing order; the ability to use the account for transactions in
investment products; ability to have the account credited with pension
payments if the customer receives a pension from any Greek pension
fund; and service even if the customer decides to return permanently to
his country of origin.
Caption: A file photo shows the exterior of a NBG branch in Athens.
ANA-MPA.
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