Thai financial institute launches express money transfer service in Laos

BANGKOK, December 4 (TNA) - A Thai financial institute introduces its express money transfer service in Laos, as part of regional preparations for the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. The financial institute, CIMB Thai Bank, on Thursday signed an agreement with Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao (BCEL) to launch the SpeedSend service, in which users do not need to have any bank account but only their passports or work permits, while recipients are not charged. Meanwhile, Padet Pirulsit, Assistant Managing Director of CIMB Thai Bank, told journalists that a large number of Lao people work in Thailand and will benefit from the new service, while the international express money transfer service will also help strengthen trade, investment and money services in ASEAN ahead of the AEC formation. Padet said that the SpeedSend service handles about 6,000 transactions a month and 90 per cent of them have been ordered by Philippine workers in Thailand so far and CIMB Thai Bangkok plans to expand the service to cover more than one million Myanmar workers in Thailand next year, through a deal to be inked with a financial institute in Myanmar and a postal service provider. According to a World Bank report, 200 million US dollars or about 6.4 billion baht has been transferred to Laos via formal channels annually, while 160 million US dollars has been transferred through informal channels, or 80 per cent of the formally transferred amount. (TNA)