Fees Waived for Online Money Transfers to the Pacific

Sending money home to friends and family in ten Pacific countries will be cheaper for ANZ customers from today, after ANZ announced the temporary waiver of its $7 international money transfer fee for online foreign currency payments made from Australia and New Zealand.

ANZ customers in Australia and New Zealand can now send money electronically to Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, New Caledonia, Timor Leste and Vanuatu with no ANZ transfer fee*, using ANZ Internet Banking (from Australia and New Zealand) and the ANZ GoMoney App (from New Zealand).

The fee waiver will run from today until the end of February 2021.

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ANZ Regional Executive for the Pacific, Tessa Price said removing the fee will help boost Pacific economies by encouraging people to go online and send money quickly and cheaply to their family and friends.

“Money sent home by family and friends is a stable source of household income for many Pacific families. In some cases it can be up to 25 percent of a household’s disposable income,” she said.

“So it’s really important that we keep costs as low as possible, especially given the economic conditions here in the Pacific which are tough due to Covid-19 and the impact it has had on tourism.”

ANZ customers in Australia and New Zealand made over 40,000 online transfers to the Pacific in 2019, totalling more than NZD$90 million. 

“It’s really important that we keep costs as low as possible, especially given the economic conditions here in the Pacific which are tough due to Covid-19 and the impact it has had on tourism."

Tessa Price - ANZ Regional Executive for the Pacific.

The effects of the global Covid-19 economic slowdown are likely to be felt in the Pacific in the coming months, according Kishti Sen, ANZ Pacific Economist, despite a bounceback in remittances seen after an initial drop in April.

"I put a lot of that down to the income support payments that were part of the overall fiscal stimulus package in the source markets," said Sen.

"Going forward, as some of those income support payments are wound back, you will probably see a pullback in remittance flows to the Pacific over the next four months of this year."

But Sen doesn't believe the drop in remittance flows, and the pressure it will put on household budgets, will result in collapse.

"Melanesian and Polynesian culture is such that you look after your family and friends and people will still be sending money," he said.

For media enquiries contact: Julia de Blaauw + 64 226539938

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* The fee waiver applies to any foreign currency international money transfer sent between from Australia and New Zealand to the following Pacific countries: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Timor Leste and Vanuatu. Usual foreign exchange rates and terms and conditions will still apply. For certain currencies, a correspondent bank may charge a fee for processing the payment to the beneficiary bank and the beneficiary's bank may charge the beneficiary fee(s) for receipt of the payment. Additional fees may also apply when using an ANZ Credit Card.

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