Visa supports cross-border transfers in Bahrain
Visa is launching this new cross-border remittance service in partnership with local banks, through the BenefitPay app.
Initially, this service is accessible to clients of Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) and Khaleeji Bank.
Visa+ allows BisB and Khaleeji Bank customers to send funds to Visa debit and prepaid cardholders across the GCC without the need to share sensitive card or bank account details.
The service uses a mobile number as an alias for the transaction, which enhances the security and simplifies the transfer process.
This move is part of an initiative to create a cross-border payment network.
The initial phase includes BisB and Khaleeji Bank in Bahrain, Emirates NBD in the UAE, and Qatar Islamic Bank in Qatar.
The goal is to connect multiple banks across the GCC and eventually expand to include Pakistan and EU countries, facilitating global remittances.
Visa+ aims to provide financial institutions with the capability to offer their customers a secure and private money movement experience, relevant for peer-to-peer payments, financing disbursements, and cross-border remittances.
Visa Bahrain country manager Ahmed ElKaffass said: "At Visa, we understand the crucial role that fast, secure, and easy payments play in people's lives across the region.
'The introduction of Visa+ in collaboration with BenefitPay, Bahrain Islamic Bank and Khaleeji Bank marks a significant step in transforming remittances, simplifying money transfers, and reshaping the money movement landscape in Bahrain. This innovative service not only enhances convenience for senders but also benefits families, communities, and economies globally."
Earlier this month, Visa expanded its portfolio of services with the launch of three new solutions - a reimagined Authorize.net platform, Unified Checkout, and the ARIC Risk Hub.
"Visa supports cross-border transfers in Bahrain " was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand.
The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
8 hours ago
- Business Insider
I moved from Chicago to Spain. It's harder to be an entrepreneur here, but I work less and still have a great life.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Giovanna Gonzalez, a 35-year-old who moved from Chicago to Valencia, Spain, in April 2025. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. In college, I wanted to study abroad in Italy or Spain, but I didn't have the means. I was a low-income, first-generation Mexican American student, going to school entirely on student loans. Studying abroad would have meant borrowing an additional $5,000 to $10,000, and since I was already graduating with debt, I felt it would have been reckless to take on more. Still, over time, I came to regret that decision. In 2019, I returned to my former hometown, El Centro, California — a small agricultural border town — for a high school career day. I'm a financial educator and influencer who offers career tips to first-generation professionals. At the school, I spoke with Algebra 2 students about my path since leaving college and my career. We discussed how to navigate college, and I encouraged everyone to study abroad if they had the opportunity. I shared how the people I know who did still light up when they talk about their experience — being young, free of major responsibilities, and surrounded by other young people in a new culture. After career day, I had a moment of self-reflection. Was my current life really for me? Would I ever get to experience life abroad? I knew it was time to make a change. Moving to Spain was a fast but expensive process My husband and I would have left the US around 2022, but the world was still in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, and things hadn't returned to normal. We decided to wait a few more years, while continuing to live in Chicago. When 2024 came around, we had a conversation about the presidential election and decided that, regardless of the outcome, we were going to move to Spain. It felt like a now-or-never moment. My husband and I researched how to get a Spanish visa. The easiest option was for me to apply for a digital nomad visa and add him as my dependent. That's because by then, I had left my desk-bound corporate job and had been running my own business for four years. While my husband's employer was open to transferring him to their Spanish branch, they weren't willing to sponsor his visa. To help us through the process, we worked with an immigration attorney who guided us every step of the way. I'm a dual citizen of Mexico and the US, so I used my Mexican passport when applying for the digital nomad visa. Because Mexico was once a Spanish colony, Mexican citizens can apply for Spanish citizenship after just two years of legal residency, compared to 10 years for US citizens. We flew to Spain to apply, which qualified us for a three-year visa instead of one. We were approved in about two and a half weeks. The process was fast but expensive. Flights alone cost us around $3,590, and the Airbnb we stayed in while applying for the Visa was about another $652. We also paid roughly $4,000 in legal fees and spent more money on things like apostilles, certified translations, and other required documents. Valencia was the perfect city for us I wanted to live in a big city so I could easily travel to other parts of Europe. Madrid came to mind, but housing is very scarce and competitive there. The same thing is true in Barcelona, if not worse. I found that the next biggest city that we liked was Valencia. Valencia is right on the beach. It has a Mediterranean climate, and is sunny almost every day — a big change coming from Chicago. The city has a lot of beautiful architecture and a rich history. It's walkable, has great public transportation, and is clean and safe. We lived in a nice neighborhood in Chicago, but even there, I had to constantly check my shoulder when it was dark. Here, I've been able to go for a walk in the park at 10 p.m. and have never felt unsafe. I'm very thankful for that. We live in a multi-unit building next to the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, and we have a beautiful view of it from our terrace. We live on the top floor in a two-story condo, which costs €1,900 ($2,226) a month. In Chicago, we were bougie and lived downtown in a high-rise building with a doorman and amenities in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment. Although our rent in Valencia is significantly cheaper than what we paid in the US, our utilities are not. Summers in Spain are extremely hot, and since homes here aren't as well-insulated as in the US, you have to run the air conditioning almost constantly. Our electricity bill alone has been over €500 ($586) for each of the past two months. It's more difficult to be an entrepreneur in Spain Living in Spain has had some challenges. My husband doesn't speak Spanish fluently, so it's been an adjustment for him to make doctor's appointments or reservations at restaurants in Spanish. I speak Spanish, so it's been much easier for me to integrate. I've made a friend in Valencia who was introduced to me by another friend. We've met twice for coffee and to go for a walk in the park. But honestly, I haven't put too much effort into making more friends yet because I'm so focused on the immigration process. I still need to get my residency card, and once that happens, I'll feel like I truly have the free time to put myself out there, go to meetups, and meet more people. I've recently learned that Spain isn't as entrepreneur-friendly as the US, especially when it comes to taxes. Many expenses I used to deduct without issue are either not allowed here or have stricter requirements. For example, during a recent work trip, I submitted an Uber receipt to my Spanish accountant, only to be told I needed a formal invoice, something that's not typically required in the US. And meals during travel can only be written off if you're dining with a client. In the US, there's a bit more grace when you're starting a business. That first year, you're not typically required to pay quarterly taxes, since you're just getting started. Usually, you file your full-year return first, then begin making quarterly estimated payments in the following years. I expected something similar in Spain, but at the end of the second quarter of this year, my accountant informed me that I needed to pay my taxes right away. I don't plan on moving back to the US Given the political climate in the US and my Mexican background, my long-term goal is to stay in Spain. There's a lot to love here. The weather is great, and we've been very welcomed by the locals. It's been pretty easy to integrate so far. I would definitely say that living abroad is quite different from what my experience would have been studying abroad, but I'm really grateful for that. I have a lot of friends who studied abroad in their 20s, and I know their time was filled with wild nights, partying, meeting new people, and traveling. I'm going to be turning 36 this week, and I'm married and a homebody who enjoys relaxing and watching TV at home. I've definitely learned the art of slowing down. Chicago was a fast-paced, big-city life where you were power-walking everywhere — that's just not a thing here. With the slightly lower cost of living in Spain, I'm working part-time. Instead of working 30 to 40 hours a week like I did in the US, I now work 15 to 20 hours and am still maintaining a great life.
Forbes
a day ago
- Forbes
New $250 Visa Integrity Fee Will Cost US $11 Billion, Say Tourism Officials
Topline U.S. tourism officials say Congress's controversial $250 visa integrity fee will deter international visitors and cost the country nearly $11 billion in lost visitor spending and tax revenue over the next three years. Key Facts The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the new $250 visa integrity fee will bring in around $27 billion over a decade—or $2.7 billion per year—to U.S. government coffers and reduce the national debt. But a U.S. tourism official told Forbes the fee will instead cost the U.S. economy $11 billion over three years, including $9.4 billion in lost visitor spending and $1.3 billion in lost tax revenue—or about $3.6 billion per year, according to an analysis by Tourism Economics. In addition, the lost revenue will lead to losing 15,000 U.S. travel jobs, according to U.S. tourism industry estimates. How Will The $250 Fee Impact Tourism To The U.s.? The CBO based its estimate solely on the potential revenue generated by the fee itself, while the U.S. tourism industry looked at the macroeconomic impact of implementing the fee, hence the wildly different estimates. The CBO estimated that charging roughly 11 million annual visa applicants $250 apiece would rake in roughly $2.7 billion per year for the State Department. Tourism officials say Congress wrongly assumed the pricey fee would have little impact on the volume of visitation. Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics, estimated that the $250-per-person fee is onerous enough to deter 5.4% of international visitors from coming to the U.S., which would translate to a drop of nearly 1 million fewer visits annually. Fewer visitors translate to less visitor spending, and in turn to lower tax revenue and job losses in the tourism industry, sending a negative ripple effect throughout the national economy. 'By longstanding tradition, the Congressional Budget Office does not incorporate macroeconomic feedback effects into its traditional cost estimates,' a CBO spokesperson told Forbes. 'We didn't specifically do a dynamic analysis of this provision.' In other words, the CBO did not factor in the potential negative economic impact from lower visitor spending, tax revenue and subsequent job cuts—key metrics used by the U.S. tourism industry and the U.S. Commerce Department to evaluate the overall value of tourism to the U.S. economy. 'I think in the minds of congressional leaders, foreign visitors don't vote, so making them pay more to help fund the [Big Beautiful] Bill wouldn't come at any political cost,' Erik Hansen, senior vice president of government relations at the U.S. Travel Association, told Forbes. 'But the problem is it comes at a huge economic cost to American businesses.' What Else Do U.s. Tourism Experts Say Congress Got Wrong? 'Congress made the mistake of assuming that this worldwide visa integrity fee would not have a big impact on visitors from countries like India or Brazil,' Hansen told Forbes. 'This is the exact type of armchair public policymaking that is going to get us into a big mess.' India, in particular, is a 'bright spot' for inbound international travel because visitation numbers have surpassed where they were in 2019, he said, while most other countries are lagging behind their pre-pandemic volume. In 2024, Indian tourists spent roughly $13.3 billion in the U.S., according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, part of the U.S. Commerce Department. 'Applying a $250 fee to a country where travel is growing is mindboggling. It will absolutely deter travel—that's what our research has found,' Hansen said. What Do International Visitors Need To Know About The Visa Integrity Fee? The fee is not actually as 'refundable' as Congress has billed it to be. As written, the Big Beautiful Bill says the State Department 'may reimburse' the fee after the visitor's visa expires, provided that the visa holder has complied with all conditions of the visa. But most visitor visas are valid for 10 years, Hansen pointed out. 'The idea that you're going to give the government money and then wait around 10 years and remember to ask for it back, even if you followed the rules, is just absolutely crazy,' he said. Indeed, to arrive at its projection, the CBO reasoned in its estimate that 'a large number of nonimmigrants would not be eligible to seek reimbursement until several years after paying the fee' so consequently only 'a small number of people would seek reimbursement.' In other words, said Hansen, 'there's a very good understanding that the refund process itself is not going to be easy, and even if it is easy, that a lot of people aren't going to seek that refund after a decade.' Another red flag: The $250 fee was inserted into the Big Beautiful Bill without a plan for processing refunds. In its analysis, the CBO wrote that 'the Department of State would need several years to implement a process for providing reimbursements.' Why Are So Many International Travelers Avoiding The U.s. This Year? In June, a World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) analysis of the economic impact of tourism in 184 countries revealed the U.S. was the only country forecast to see international visitor spending decline in 2025, which by some estimates is as much as $29 billion. The root causes of this decline, multiple studies have found, are a combination of President Trump's tariffs, travel bans, inflammatory rhetoric and harsher immigration policies, all which have created a chilling effect on visitors. 'While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the 'closed' sign,' Julia Simpson, president and CEO of WTTC, said in a statement. 'Given we're halfway through the year and we've seen these impacts, we don't know when the stiffest headwind is, but I think it does stay sustained,' Aran Ryan, director of industry studies at Tourism Economics, told Forbes last month. 'We're generally assuming that this persists for a while and that some of it is going to persist throughout the end of the administration.' Simpson characterized the WTTC study as a 'wake-up call for the U.S. government,' adding that 'without urgent action to restore international traveler confidence, it could take several years for the U.S. just to return to pre-pandemic levels of international visitor spend.' Tangent Trump's signature spending bill contains another blow to U.S. tourism. A Senate committee led by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) slashed the budget of Brand USA, the country's public-private destination marketing organization, from $100 million to $20 million. 'This is another error that Congress has made,' Hansen said, noting that the Trump administration recommended full funding for the organization in its fiscal year 2026 budget. 'We have a big misperception problem among international visitors right now, but Congress cut funding for the one organization that's in charge of setting perceptions and sending a welcoming message about travel to the United States.'
Associated Press
a day ago
- Associated Press
Supporting the Development of Shanghai as an International Consumption Center SPDB's High-Quality 'Big Retail' Financial Services Shine at 'Shanghai Summer'
Shanghai, China, August 15, 2025 -- Brimming with the vibrant energy of summer spending, the 2025 Shanghai Summer International Consumption Season has officially opened. As one of the signature initiatives supporting Shanghai's vision to become a leading international consumption center, Shanghai Summer focuses on the theme of 'Welcoming Global Visitors to Enjoy, Explore, and Shop,' showcasing the city's dynamism and cosmopolitan appeal. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB), together with Visa, is serving as a Global Strategic Partner for this year's event. Leveraging its 'Big Retail' strategy, SPDB is delivering a comprehensive suite of high-quality financial services that blend Shanghai's distinctive character with a global perspective. By integrating retail banking services, deeply understanding diverse consumption scenarios, and introducing a 2025 summer program of retail and financial benefits, SPDB is contributing to the growth of Shanghai as an international consumption hub. Three-Tier Benefits Package: Enhancing the 'Eat, Stay, Travel, Shop, Entertain' Experience The 2025 summer retail and financial benefits program comprises a 'Service Package,' 'Product Package,' and 'Privilege Package,' designed to release inclusive consumption potential during Shanghai Summer. Service Package – Optimizes foreign card acceptance. In partnership with Visa, SPDB has launched the 'Shanghai Summer Friendly Payment Demonstration Zone,' covering the city's two major airports and popular commercial districts, providing seamless payment solutions for both domestic and international customers. Product & Privilege Packages – Focus on dual-brand credit cards and integrated credit–debit offerings. These include summer lifestyle vouchers, city exploration bundles, and exclusive offers for festivals and exhibitions, enhancing user engagement and satisfaction. Targeted Campaigns to Boost Tourism and Night-time Consumption To maximize the impact of inclusive promotional activities, SPDB Credit Card has introduced two themed offers for cultural and tourism scenarios: Summer City Exploration Bundle – Cardholders who upgrade their SPDB Visa dual-brand magnetic stripe credit card to a chip card, register via the 'Pu Da Xi Ben' app, and meet spending criteria can receive a bundle with Shanghai attraction ticket discounts, saving up to RMB 116. Summer Night Linked Vouchers – Available via the 'Pu Da Xi Ben' app, offering five types of randomly assigned vouchers redeemable at designated merchants. During Shanghai Summer, SPDB UnionPay credit cardholders (starting with '62') can enjoy RMB 16.6 off Shanghai landmark tickets (e.g., Oriental Pearl Tower, Shanghai Grand Theatre, West Bund) on purchases over RMB 160. For the 'Shanghai Beauty Festival,' SPDB has partnered with Shanghai Jiuguang Department Store and Shanghai New World Daimaru to offer RMB 166 off on qualifying WeChat Pay transactions. In parallel, SPDB debit and credit card promotions during the 'Silver Lifestyle Festival' provide UnionPay QuickPass discounts at 11 iconic local brands including Bright Dairy, Taikang Foods, and Nonggongshang Supermarket. Everyday Spending Benefits and Cross-Promotion with Government Vouchers SPDB debit and credit card discounts can be combined with Shanghai's government-issued appliance and leisure vouchers. SPDB debit cardholders can earn RMB 6.6 UnionPay vouchers with qualifying purchases, while UnionPay credit cardholders can earn RMB 16.6 vouchers. Additional offers include: RMB 26.6 off fuel top-ups of RMB 300 or more via specified channels for Sinopec fuel cards or PetroChina e-wallets using an SPDB credit card linked to WeChat Pay. RMB 9.66 off Shanghai transportation card top-ups of RMB 100 or more. Driving Consumption with Integrated Retail Banking Solutions Guided by its vision of becoming a world-class, internationally competitive joint-stock commercial bank, SPDB Credit Card continues to enhance consumer experiences through scenario-based solutions. Actively responding to the call to expand spending during the 2025 Shanghai Nightlife Festival, SPDB is launching both online and offline promotions to build momentum for Shanghai Summer. Working closely with Visa to upgrade the payment experience, SPDB ensures cardholders enjoy not only seamless transactions but also multiple layers of benefits. Seizing this key window to stimulate consumption and domestic demand, SPDB is delivering differentiated campaigns and signature product privileges that bring 'convenience and rewards' into everyday life. Through multi-format, multi-scenario, and multi-channel integration, SPDB is fully leveraging the advantages of its Big Retail strategy to enhance Shanghai's global appeal as an international consumption center. Contact Info: Name: Marsha Email: Send Email Organization: Shanghai Design Week Investment Management Co. Ltd Website: Release ID: 89167384 Should you identify any discrepancies, concerns, or inaccuracies in the content provided in this press release or require assistance with a press release takedown, we strongly urge you to notify us promptly by contacting [email protected] (it is important to note that this email is the authorized channel for such matters, sending multiple emails to multiple addresses does not necessarily help expedite your request). Our responsive team is committed to addressing your concerns within 8 hours by taking necessary actions to resolve identified issues diligently or guiding you through the necessary steps for removal. Our dedication lies in providing accurate and reliable information.
