OREANDA-NEWS. April 07, 2010. Bangladesh’s Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB) and the Moscow, Russia headquartered Commercial Bank, UNIStream, successfully launched a joint project to start inbound remittances through MTB branches in Bangladesh. Integration between the system and MTB opens the opportunity to send money from any of the UNIStream’s outlets, worldwide, to Bangladesh, and receive it in MTB branches. The set of services offered includes not only cash-to-cash, but also cash-to-accounts and even bank checks delivery. At the starting phase of the project, UNIStream’s services would be available in more than 50 locations; however, the plan is to expand to over 400 locations across Bangladesh.

“This is significant step for expanding remittances from some underserved locations, and the Bangladeshi Diaspora will be greatly benefited with access to easy and prompt remittance services”’ said Anis A. Khan, MTB Managing Director & CEO. A.K.M. Shameem, Head of MTB NRB Division said the bank is ushering in an array of tailor made products and services for the NRBs, and they will find banking a more enjoyable experience. The pioneering project, the two companies believe, opens a new page not only in the history of Bangladesh’s growing remittances market but has a principal value to the entire segment of South Asia and Asia Pacific segment. “Taking into account the key role that South Asia and Asia Pacific play in the structure of entire global remittance market, UNIStream has drastically intensified its activity in the region,” said Shekhar Nair, Senior Vice President for Commercial Bank UNIStream.

Mr. Nair also stated that recently the business successfully completed the project in China besides developing a widespread network in Vietnam.

Mutual Trust Bank is a full service private commercial Bank in Bangladesh based on a strong IT platform with a wide network of 54 branches across the country. MTB provides banking services to a varied clientele, having over 200,000 accounts. With up to 6 million clients served per annum, Commercial Bank UNIStream operates over 190,000 service points worldwide. Its network covers 95 countries. The amount of transactions, the system processed reached USD 3.7 billion in 2009. Its affiliates successfully work in UK, Cyprus, Germany and Greece.