Expat businesses in Oman urge to bring hundi traders under law

Expatriate Bangladeshi businessmen and bankers in Oman have urged to bring hundi traders under the law to increase remittance flow through the prevention of this illegal channel of money transfer.

They came up with the remarks while speaking at a seminar titled "Encouraging remittances through legal channels and prevention of hundi".

Bangladesh Social Club organised the programme at the National Bank of Oman auditorium in Muscat on October 7, 2022. 

In addition to the big hundi traders, there are hundreds of small ones. These traders are the main controllers of the illegal money transfer channel. It has become more urgent to bring them under the law to increase remittance flow, they said.

In the seminar, diplomats, businessmen, bankers, professional organisers and prominent people of the Bangladesh community expressed their views on the barriers to sending remittances through legal channels and focused ways to overcome them. 

Moushumi Rahman, minister and deputy Head of Mission at Bangladesh Embassy in Oman, said the relevance and necessity of remittance are more than anytime before in the current situation of global reality following Russia-Ukraine war after the Covid-19 pandemic.

"To increase the flow of remittances, the government has emphasised the awareness of the expatriates in addition to removing the obstacles including hundi, and has taken various steps," she said.

"The Embassy of Bangladesh in Oman has been working to prevent hundi to protect the expatriates. Remittance slips sent to the banking channel have been made mandatory for expatriates. A stern warning has been issued to the hundi traders to step aside," she also said

Tariq Atiq, head (retail and digital banking) at National Bank Oman (NBO), said, "It should be remembered that no illegal means bring benefits to the individual, society, the state."

He said NBO has taken various steps to encourage expatriate Bangladeshis to send remittances through legal channels. Bangla Digital Platform has also been launched recently for this purpose.

Iftekhar-ul-Hasan Chowdhury, CEO of Gulf Overseas Exchange, said, "The number of expatriate Bangladeshis all over the world is nearly 1.25 crore.  In recent times, considering the transaction and quantity, it is seen that about 60% are sending remittances to the country through hundi or illegal channels."

The writer is an expatriate freelance journalist.