BML blocks card-not-present transactions overseas; limits transactions on Temu and other sites

Bank of Maldives (BML) has announced the decision to block card-not-present transactions overseas, and limit the number of transactions that each customer can make on Temu and other ecommerce websites.

The announcement was made by BML’s CEO and Managing Director Mohamed Shareef during a press briefing on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters, Shareef said the bank US dollar outflow is higher than its inflow.

He said the BML has therefore decided to implement measures to enhance the bank’s processes to ensure free and equitable access to foreign currency for essential public needs.

This includes blocking people other than actual cardholders from using their cards for Point of Sale (POS) and Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions overseas.

BML states that it has entered a digital partnership with Maldives Immigration, under which the bank will be able to enable foreign spend limits specifically for card-present POS transactions conducted overseas.

According to BML, this targeted approach ensures that customers travelling abroad can continue to use their cards seamlessly for genuine transactions, while strengthening safeguards against unauthorized or abusive practices which are against the international card payment networks standards.

The bank has also decided to limit monthly transactions on ecommerce websites such as Temu to 30 per customer.

The bank said that fewer than three percent of customers are making more than 30 transactions per month for ecommerce, and that the measure is being implemented to ensure fair use of the e-commerce budget.

The BML has also decided to issue a student card to students studying abroad who do not have their own card and are using a guardian’s card. According to the bank, the card will have the monthly student foreign spend limit of USD 1,200.

The BML states that students will be given three months to apply for a student card, during which time they can continue using their guardian’s card.

BML said that some customers have been using the foreign spend limit on personal cards to conduct business transactions on certain online shopping sites., resulting in the bank selling large amounts of dollars for such purposes to a limited number of parties.

The bank said it has decided to set a daily budget for the amount sold for such online transactions, in order to ensure that the dollars obtained by the bank are distributed for the benefit of a wider population.

However, the bank said that no changes are being made at this time to sites used for other legitimate personal purposes.

Other measures:

• Cards linked to dollar accounts can be used without any foreign spend restrictions based on the dollars available in the customer's account.
• For customers holding multiple credit cards, annual fee will only be charged for one credit card since the monthly foreign spend limit is applied per customer. No additional annual fee will be charged for customers with multiple credit cards.
• The sale of USD or other foreign currency support for TTs will be processed only during the Bank’s operating hours. However, TT transfers sent in US Dollars can be processed 24/7, including on holidays.
• Parties attempting to obtain large amounts of dollars by splitting TT transactions will be identified, and sales to such parties will be restricted within the imposed limits.

To be updated…