Washington, Jun 19 (IANS): A leading US financial services firm, Wells Fargo & Company, has joined hands with India's HDFC Bank to start a US-India remittance service.
Under an agreement signed in Milpitas, California, the global remittance partnership with HDFC doubles Wells Fargo's ExpressSend remittance network payout locations in India.
With the addition of HDFC Bank's more than 2,500 branches and over 8,900 ATMs, Wells Fargo customers' beneficiaries can now choose from a network in India of over 5,200 branches and more than 16,000 ATMs for remittances to India, a company release said.
"India has one of the highest remittance volumes in the world according to the World Bank," said Daniel Ayala, executive vice president and head of Wells Fargo's Global Remittance Services.
"This is evident from high customer demand as well. We are glad we can make payout locations even more convenient now by expanding our remittance payout network in India with HDFC Bank."
"While we're a major player in the Gulf-India remittance market, this alliance with Wells Fargo will help us expand in the US-India sector, which has been growing exponentially," said Harish Engineer, executive director, HDFC Bank.
"Wells Fargo's expansion of its remittance service over the years has been remarkable for its steadiness and success," said Gwenn Bezard, Aite Group research director.
"The deal with HDFC Bank highlights once more the value of time and commitment over fast and furious in this market."
Wells Fargo ExpressSend customers can send up to $5,000 per day to their beneficiary's HDFC Bank account using the account-based ExpressSend service for a $5 fee. The fee for account-based transfers to HDFC Bank will be waived through Aug 31.
Remittances to HDFC Bank are denominated in Indian Rupees. Once a customer has set up the ExpressSend agreement and the beneficiary account information is verified with HDFC Bank, the customer needs to conduct their first transaction in a store.
Subsequent account-based transactions can be conducted online through Wells Fargo.com, at a Wells Fargo banking location or through Wells Fargo Phone Bank.