Zain Offers Relief, Free Money Transfer to Philippines

Zain’s money transfer service between Bahrain and the Philippines has launched free money transfers between the countries in order to provide relief to victims of the recent typhoons. The service will be free until October 11, allowing families in Bahrain to transfer money back home to the Philippines free of charge.

They’ve also launched a partnership with the Philippine Embassy in Bahrain where customers can donate to a general fund via SMS. Zain has promised to match private donations.

Bashar al Alami, a manager at Zain says,

“For the Philippines specifically, customers can transfer money directly to Global – Gcash. GCash is well known in the Philippines for establishing a wide network for mobile banking,” he added.

“We are very keen to be of assistance to our Filipino customers and want to express our solidarity with them in this time of distress, hence all money transfers will be free of charge till October 11 and our SMS donations campaign will channel needy donations through the Philippines Embassy to the victims.”

Mobile money transfers are more and more common in the developing world, and this partnership between Zain and the Philippine Embassy speaks well to its future for remittances. If transfer rates are lower than that of Western Union, for example, mobile operators could make a strong entrance into this market.