The CEO of Bank of Maldives (BML), Mohamed Shareef, has stated that with the government’s project to establish ATMs in all inhabited islands of the Maldives, the amount of money entering the banking system has increased. The CEO made this statement in a special interview with PSM News during the President’s ongoing tour of Baa Atoll islands. The government is working to establish BML ATMs in every inhabited island of the Maldives before the end of this year. Providing information about this project, BML CEO Mohamed Shareef said that this is a very important and significant project.
The CEO said that following the President’s decision to provide banking services to all inhabited islands in the Maldives regardless of population size, and his directive to BML to implement this project, the bank is working on installing ATMs in an additional 103 islands this year. CEO Shareef stated that this is not just a project to install ATMs on islands. He added that this would end the need for people to travel to other islands at great expense to access Bank of Maldives services.
The CEO said that with the establishment of ATMs, people can withdraw, deposit, and transfer money from the ATM while staying on their island, and even open accounts and apply for loans from home. The CEO stated that so far this year, a large amount of money has been deposited into the banking system through the newly opened ATMs. He also mentioned that this would benefit the citizens.
“We are seeing more money being deposited into accounts from the islands. This is because businesses and individuals on the islands who receive cash often keep it unbanked, right? Money is kept in homes too. When people know they can use, withdraw, or deposit money whenever they need, the amount of money being deposited from these islands has increased. This is leading to economic growth. When this money enters the banking system, it also facilitates other banking activities like lending.” CEO Shareef said.
So far this year, BML has opened 44 new ATMs. With this, BML’s ATM network now has over 250 ATMs. BML stated that they are proud to be the bank that issues the most loans and has the largest customer base in the Maldives.
