Defence Bank and Western Union offer transfer solution
Former credit union turned banking operation Defence Bank has announced an arrangement with Western Union Business Solutions to offer both Australian and overseas service men and women serving in Australia access to international funds transfer via internet banking.
The bank announced the new service would be launched in June and followed on from its recent introduction of Australia's first video banking call centre earlier this year.
It said the development represented yet another move by Defence Bank to better service its membership base spread across Australia and overseas, often in remote locations.
Commenting on the development, Defence Bank chief executive Jon Linehan said it would enable Defence personnel serving in other countries to transfer money in a cost-effective and convenient manner.
"We are the first mutual bank to take this step, recognising the important need of such a service for members. We anticipate there will be strong interest from Defence personnel," he said.
"Members will be able to access this service by simply selecting the ‘Overseas Payments' menu tab once they have securely signed into Online Banking," Linehan said.
"They will then be given an option of nominating the foreign currency equivalent in Australian dollars, or the required amount of foreign currency."
He said that, initially, there would be 43 currencies available and it was envisaged this would increase to 130 later this year.
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