ANZ has waived its International Money Transfer fee to Pacific to allow customers in Australia and New Zealand to continue to send money to the Pacific for free ANZ Internet Banking or ANZ goMoney.
In a statement ANZ Regional Executive Pacific, Tessa Price, said for the past 11 months, ANZ had been waiving transfer fees on foreign currency international transfers from Australia and New Zealand sent via their banking apps and internet banking to a range of Pacific Islands.
“Today, I’m pleased to share that from 1 October, we’ll be extending this waiver indefinitely,” she said.
The fee waiver on foreign currency international transfers would apply to transfers from Australia and New Zealand via ANZ Internet Banking (AU and NZ) and ANZ goMoney (NZ) to the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia (AU only), Kiribati, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga and Vanuatu.
“The Pacific is a key part of the ANZ family. Many of our customers and staff in Australia and New Zealand have close friends and family in the Pacific,” Ms Price said.
“ANZ Australia and New Zealand customers have wholeheartedly embraced the fee waiver and sent more than 104,000 International Money Transfers to the Pacific worth $A141.8 million ($F213.5m), which is an increase of 50 per cent in volume and 20 per cent in value, compared to the same period last year.
“In an average year, remittances can make up 25 per cent of household income. It’s fair to say that the past 18 months have been anything but average and COVID-19 has underscored the need to help the flow of funds to communities.”
Ms Price said they knew that the economic impact of COVID-19 on the Pacific had been significant and it would take some time to recover.
She said ANZ remained committed to helping the Pacific customers during these challenging times.
