DOHA: One of Qatar's leading exchange houses, Al Dar Exchange inked a new partnership with the Federal Bank Limited of India yesterday.
Abdulaziz Al Ansari, Chairman, Al Dar Exchange and M Venugopalan, Managing Director and CEO, Federal Bank signed the agreement in the presence of company officials at their branch office on the 'C' Ring Road.
The main objective of Al Dar Exchange, which has eight branches and 33 percent stake by the Qatar government, is to serve the remittance needs of the diverse community of foreign workers here.
Addressing presspersons, officials from both groups expressed optimism at the business prospects. Remittances to different parts of India are high from Qatar.
"We are the biggest Exchange in terms of capital and have the highest number of branches in different parts of Qatar," said Ebrahim Al Lengawi, General Manager, Al Dar Exchange. "We endeavour to provide reliable, fast, cost effective and high quality security and services to our customers."
Al Dar Exchange has chosen the right banking partner in Federal Bank Limited since its head office is in Kerala and has 606 branches all over India. The exchange officials will be eyeing the high number of professionals from this Indian state working here to increase their volume of remittances.
Asked why customers who are remitting money to their accounts in India from their chosen exchange houses should shift to Al Dar Exchange, Lengawi said, "There are three reasons, the exchange rates we offer, the speed of transaction and security."
Endorsing Lengawi's claim, Federal Bank's Managing Director and CEO M Venugopalan said, "Speed is of vital importance for customers. They want money transfers in the shortest possible time. We are offering remittances within 24 hours via electronic funds transfer. In fact, the Reserve Bank of India has instructed Indian banks to encourage customers to do electronic transactions it is fast and safer than the manual cheque/draft transfers."
© The Peninsula 2008
