Foreign Remittance: Process, Performance, and Challenges – A Study on Southeast Bank Limited

Abstract

Southeast Bank Limited (henceforth, SEBL) formed under Companies Act, 1994 on the 12th of March, 1995, is a leading private commercial bank. It intends to provide comprehensive and competitive banking service to its clients through its countrywide network of 115 branches. SEBL began its operation at the main branch with three of its core departments, namely General Banking, Advances and Foreign Exchange. Its growth and increase in profit are imposing. It operates with a catchy slogan that it is 'A bank with vision'. Its product portfolio includes products innovated according to the needs and preferences of its clients, which are beneficent to clients while being profitable for the bank itself. The product-basket encompasses Islamic Banking, Merchant Banking, Dual Currency Visa Credit Card, Visa Travel Card, ATMs, Education Loan Scheme, Double Benefit Scheme, Consumer Loan, Millionaire Deposit Scheme, SME Banking, Corporate Banking, Syndicate Loan, Monthly Savings Scheme, Monthly Income Scheme, Pension Saving Scheme, Wage Earners' Pension Scheme, SMS Banking, Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR), etc. Additionally, SEBL has traditional credit and foreign trade related services. I have critically reviewed the various foreign remittance activities of Southeast Bank Limited, Sat Mosjid Road Branch throughout my overall study. My critical analysis covers remittance performance, process and challenges in SEBL. I have also reviewed the trend analysis of data collected from the annual reports of SEBL. It also includes a study of the performance of remittance in Bangladesh and its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Bangladesh. Foreign remittance is a transfer of money from a foreign worker to their family or other individuals in their home countries. Remittances can be sent via a wire transfer, electronic payment system, mail, draft, or check. Remittances can be used for any type of payment including invoices or other obligations. But the term is typically used to refer to money sent to family members back in a person's home country. The government has started giving an incentive of 2% in remittance sent by expatriate Bangladeshi to encourage them sending money through legal channels. Several tech startups have developed applications to facilitate foreign remittances by making the process more user-friendly, as well as removing high costs associated with some traditional formats like MoneyGram and Western Union. Two such examples are TransferWise and Wave. Both apps charge relatively low fees and exist outside of traditional banks. The United States is the leading source of foreign remittances, followed by Russia and Saudi Arabia.