24 August, 2021
Transfer Galaxy's CMO Anette Trulsson Corda talks about the impact of the situation in Afghanistan on BBC Today Radio 4
Transfer Galaxy's CMO Anette Trulsson Corda talks about the impact of the situation in Afghanistan on BBC Today Radio 4:
Find out what was talked about in the interview below:
“What about expat Afghans sending money home? It is a big source of income for the country. Perhaps, as I said earlier, as much as 4% of GDP comes from these remittances Western Union Money Gram had suspended transfers to Afghanistan as one of the other big players Transfer Galaxy.
Anette Trulsson Corda is the chief market growth officer at Transfer Galaxy, and she joins us. Just on the current situation, why did you suspend transfers, and when did you do it?”
“We suspended transfers on August 17th, and the main reason is that the financial system is basically broken it’s down. It’s not possible to send money to get pay it out. Sending is possible paying it out is not in the country right now.”
“A few of the questions are about logistics. There is not any fear of what we were talking about but possible infringement of future sanctions or current sanctions.”
“Well, we are following what’s happening, and we are if they’re sanctions that will have an impact on us as well, but at this moment, we’re also trying to look at the risk that will come out of this new situation and how we can manage it. We’re already obviously with regards to compliance very strict, and we are very aware of whom we’re serving as a customer and at the same time, we’re very, very aware of the need for the Afghan people to be able to continue receiving the money.”
“Could you give us some idea how big is the market as you know how much money is going from expat Afghans back to their home country?”
“We estimate from Europe the market to be around 400,000 people so ss that’s one of the bigger what we refer to as corridors where you send money to and for us, in particular, it’s the top amongst the three growth markets for us, a decent and important underground market.”
“What would the effect be on your clients because a lot of families in Afghanistan I assume, rely on this remittance money for food and subsistence?”
“Exactly for food and also a lot of it goes to education and health as well, so it is a very important source of income, and that’s exactly why we are very eager to continue being able to serve these customers.”
“If you are ruled out of the market through sanctions or logistic reasons, will the money move any way that would let the hawala system come in this, which is the informal system of Islamic money transfer? ”
“It is present today now there is also that our customers they do have a preference for the security of having an official way of sending money so if they have no other choice unfortunately yes.”