In order to boost trade and facilitate payment in the West African sub region, Skye Bank Plc has introduced a funds transfer service within its network of subsidiaries in Nigeria, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The new funds transfer service, known as African Payment Service, is available in all the bank’s branches in Nigeria and in the countries where it has presence, and is open to both account and non account holders.

Speaking at the formal launch of the service in Lagos on Thursday, the bank’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, said the new offering is convenient, secure, cost effective, fast and reliable, adding that the service has an enhanced security of transfer code via the use of scratch card.

According to him, the service which is a dollar denominated one, is devoid of exchange rate volatility and does not attract hidden charges. He noted that the service would help in promoting trade on the African continent.

On the benefits of the service to the customers, the bank chief said the risks associated with physical carrying of cash as well as the possibility of theft and harassments by border guards would be eliminated.

The Executive Director, South South/Retail Banking, Mrs Ibiye Ekong, explained that the new funds transfer service was an enhancement over the bank’s existing product known as Flitcash which is a local funds transfer service.

She revealed that studies had shown that about $760 million is circulated among West African states annually, with most of these funds being transferred physically from one country to the other by the traders and tourists plying these routes.

Ekong described the launch of the service as the harnessing of a business opportunity, revealing that the recent increase in commercial and social activities in the Ghana-Nigeria corridor , has led to an upsurge in the demand to move funds across these two countries, with an estimated over US$350 million being remitted annually between the two countries.