MANAMA: The fear of squeezing margins and even possible loss in money transfer transactions to Pakistan, the flow of remittances has been halted as result of nervousness among the money transfer companies across the region.
The record gains against the dollar have put the pressure on the money transfer companies to halt the business as the changing values many times in a single day has shrunk the profit margin for the money transfer companies.
The finance companies in Bahrain are not releasing the payments even after 36 hours to the payees’ accounts in Pakistan due to rupee gains against the US dollar, an official at one of leading finance companies told The24X7News Bahrain.
“The rupee exchange rate against Bahraini Dinar changed even on Sunday, which brought a halt in the remittance payment system and the money exchange companies either not taking a business to Pakistan or offering a much lower exchange rate just to keep the possible losses on the minimal side,” he added, while seeking anonymity.
However, the rules of the Central Bank of Bahrain don’t permit any company to halt the operations on sheer speculation of exchange rates and there are hefty penalties for any violation in this regard.
“Being teller, I have been asked by my management why I had booked a transaction which ended up in a loss to the company,” he said, adding that he had booked BD33,000 on Sunday and due to exchange rate variation in few hours the company lost about PK Rupees 3000.