Bank Asia and Mastercard collaborate with Payoneer to process faster payments for freelancers, with SHADHIN Card

Bank Asia and Mastercard today announced their collaboration with Payoneer for faster processing of freelancers’ cross-border digital payments through the SHADIN card. Payoneer is an online platform that facilitates cross-border payments for freelancers globally. Bangladeshi Freelancers are well accustomed to Payoneer to receive their freelance earnings in their Payoneer accounts from various marketplaces such as upwork.com, freelancer.com, etc. The integration will ease the traditionally cumbersome process of receiving (freelancers’) earnings by a simple transfer through Payoneer into their Shadhin cards in the local currency as well as in a foreign currency.

Bank Asia Limited in collaboration with Mastercard and Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) had launched the SHADHIN Mastercard card earlier this year and is the first-of-its-kind payment system for the freelancer community of Bangladesh. Through this system, freelancers can legally receive their earnings online for services rendered, in a secure ecosystem, thereby creating a digitally empowered freelancer community in Bangladesh. They can also enjoy all the benefits of Mastercard and Bank Asia locally and internationally. Freelancers can link their SHADHIN Mastercard cards with their respective Payoneer accounts using the Bank Asia Smart App. These cards are Export Retention Quota (ERQ) enabled which enables freelancers to enjoy 70% of their freelance earnings for any kind of international payment related to their work in USD. In addition to that, if a freelancer wants to use his/her entire earnings in Bangladeshi Taka, s/he can do so using the SHADHIN card.

At today’s event Mr. Ahmed Jamal, Deputy Governor, Bangladesh Bank as chief guest, Mr. Syed Almas Kabir, President, BASIS along with Mr. Arfan Ali, President & Managing Director, Bank Asia Limited; Mr. Syed Mohammad Kamal, Country Manager, Mastercard Bangladesh; Mr. Patrick de Courcy, Head of Asia Pacific, Payoneer and other high officials of respective organizations were present.

Arfan Ali, President & Managing Director, Bank Asia Limited said “The integration of the Shadhin Card with Payoneer is a major milestone in Bangladesh to serve its freelancer community and ICT Exporters to utilize their valuable earnings as per their needs in local as well as foreign currencies. Bank Asia is always ahead in digitizing banking services and in reaching out to customers for its banking services through its conventional, Islamic and agent outlets all over Bangladesh. Through this collaboration, freelancers can now transfer their money from/to Shadhin Cards using the Bank Asia Smart App and meet their foreign payment obligations in foreign currency up to 70 % of loaded amount and can withdraw the rest or full in local currency from any nearby ATM booth. I feel very proud of being a part of this event.”

Patrick de Courcy, Head of Asia Pacific, Payoneer said “The Shadhin card is a ground breaking innovation. Payoneer is very proud to be working with Bank Asia and Mastercard to bring the best payment solutions to the freelancer community in Bangladesh, enabling them to receive payments from their global clients and customers. We are committed to continue innovating to empower the thriving service export industry in Bangladesh.”

Syed Almas Kabir, President, BASIS said “Bangladesh is at crossroads and about to take a giant leap in the e-commerce space. We believe that BASIS, with the support of companies such as Mastercard, is crucially placed to facilitate this leap. This integration is another milestone on the way to building the nation towards the vision of Digital Bangladesh.”

Commenting on the collaboration, Syed Mohammad Kamal, Country Manager, Bangladesh, Mastercard said “This is a fantastic initiative by Mastercard and Bank Asia, which is very much in sync with the country’s vision of building a financially inclusive society. This integration with Payoneer is a value addition to SHADHIN Mastercard cards which will benefit the freelancer community by enabling them to receive their hard-earned income in the fastest possible time.”