RAKBANK’s Prepaid MasterCard for UAE-based Filipinos Includes Remittance Card (Feb, 12, 2013)
Feb. 12, 2013
United Arab Emirates-based RAKBANK, also known as the National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah, recently launched a reloadable prepaid MasterCard for Filipinos who live and work in the UAE, featuring an extra card for remittance funds-recipients back home. Each new RAKBANK Bayani Prepaid MasterCard comes with two cards—one for personal use and another one customers may send to Philippines-based recipients to receive money transfers and use for online or POS purchases, to withdraw cash at ATMs or make utility payments, the bank said.
Each Bayani (the Tagalog word for “hero”) card features two separate purses, or wallets, that hold funds in either U.S. dollars or UAE dirham, according to the bank. Cardholders may transfer funds for free between the cards’ two wallets through the bank’s Website or by sending a text message associated with the account via a mobile phone. There is a fee of 5 AED (US$1.36) for each funds transfer between a customer’s two cards. Cardholders may withdraw cash from ATMs within the UAE for a fee of 2 percent of the transaction or 10 AED ($2.72), whichever is higher. Withdrawing cash from any Philippines-based ATM is free, the bank said. The new card fee is 50 AED ($13.61); the second card is free.
What makes the card interesting is that it is “the first remittance-oriented two-card program” to launch in the area, enhancing convenience for users at both ends, David Parker, founder of U.K.-based Polymath Consulting, tells Paybefore. Prepaid cards are “rapidly developing” in the region, he adds. RAKBANK in 2011 launched two MasterCard prepaid cards targeting banked and unbanked locals, including students and new UAE residents.
