Some UAE residents miss school fees, medical payments after Al Ansari remittance delay
The delay, caused by a technical glitch, happened on a busy weekend, when many expats — after getting their monthly salary — sent money back home earmarked for household expenses, education, rent, medical bills, and other expenditures.
'The money I sent on Saturday night is still sitting pretty in their (Al Ansari Exchange) system,' Indian expat S.P. told Khaleej Times, adding: 'I checked with them yesterday (July 6) and they were blaming NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) collapse. I checked again today (Monday) and the money is still not yet credited to my family's bank account in India."
'I called an Al Ansari branch in Dubai and the staff admitted they experienced some 'technical issues' and assured the system will be up and running soon,' noted the Dubai-based Indian resident.
'Minor technical issue'
In a statement sent to Khaleej Times on Monday, Al Ansari Exchange said: 'On Saturday, July 5, a minor technical issue was identified that affected the processing of certain financial transactions at Al Ansari Exchange, a wholly owned subsidiary of Al Ansari Financial Services PJSC, resulting in the unintentional transfer of funds to a small number of customer accounts."
Al Ansari Exchange said their 'team responded immediately in close coordination with the relevant financial institutions, and the vast majority of the amounts were successfully recovered".
'We emphasise that regular daily transactions have not been impacted by this incident and continue to be processed as usual," the company underscored, noting: 'Additional preventative measures are being implemented to further strengthen our systems and prevent such occurrences in the future."
Al Ansari Exchange also issued an apology 'for any inconvenience caused to those affected and thanked all parties for their cooperation and understanding".
A quick call by Khaleej Times to one of Al Ansari Exchange branches on Monday confirmed the 'technical glitch' in the system on Saturday. 'It caused delays in processing the transactions. The system is back to normal today (Monday), but some customers might still experience some delays due to the backlogs over the weekend,' the staff added.
'I incurred a penalty'
Marlon, a Filipino expat who has been using Al Ansari Exchange services for almost a decade, said it was the first time he encountered a delay in sending money to the Philippines on July 5. 'Unfortunately, the timing was so bad because I was not able to beat the deadline to pay for my son's school fees. Because of the delay, I incurred a penalty for late payment,' he told Khaleej Times.
Dubai-based Kenyan expat Zee also experienced a delay in sending money for her mother's medical expenses. 'Every month, I send around Dh500 for my mother's medicines for diabetes and high blood pressure. There should be no delay for her to receive the money as it is very important for her medical condition,' she said.
Both Marlon and Zee are still waiting for confirmation from their respective families if they have received the money.
Popular among UAE residents
Al Ansari Exchange is recognised as 'the UAE's largest remittance and foreign exchange company' and a subsidiary of Al Ansari Financial Services PJSC. It offers instant online money transfers to India and several other countries, including the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Egypt, UK, and more.
According to its website, Al Ansari Exchange 'has a network of over 260 branches, employing over 4,000 multilingual staff who cater to more than 3 million customers every month with fast, reliable and efficient service at very competitive rates.' The company also has a mobile app that contributes to around 14 per cent of the total number of transactions.
Al Ansari Exchange is popular among UAE residents for its annual Dh1 Million Al Ansari Millionaire Promotion. Albert Rioflorido, a Filipino customer living in the UAE for the past 12 years, was named as this year's winner. The promotion, which ran from March 1 to May 29, attracted millions of participants who entered the draw by conducting qualifying transactions at the branch network and digital platforms.
The UAE is the third-largest sender of remittances in the world, after the US and Saudi Arabia. Last year, Indian expats based in the UAE sent $21.6 billion to India, equivalent to 19.2 per cent of the total dollar inflows, ranking the UAE as the second-largest source of global remittance after the US.
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