BML reverts decision, withdrawal limit for locals abroad at USD 750

The Bank of Maldives on Tuesday, reversed its earlier decision to cap the withdrawal limit for Maldivians residing abroad.

The bank earlier had announced that Maldivians living abroad can withdraw cash up to USD 125 per month from the monthly allowance of USD 750. The decision attracted significant criticism from the public.

BML had also announced expanding the debit card limit from USD 250 to USD 500 on Tuesday. In a bid to stop misuse of these eases, the bank initially announced that it had capped the cash withdrawal at USD 125. Besides this, the transaction fee was also changed from MVR 100 to USD 10.

Following these decisions, many Maldivians, especially those residing in foreign countries, expressed their concerns. A local, currently residing in Malaysia said they were paying rent and utilities by withdrawing cash from the bank-extended usage limit. The individual highlighted this withdrawal restriction would greatly affect their means to pay for the basics.

Several Maldivians criticized the bank’s earlier decision in various community groups.

Not long after this, BML announced it had reverted its earlier decision confirming overseas customers can make payments or withdraw up to USD 750.

In a post on X, BML confirmed that customers can register through the Foreign Limit Portal on their website and select the preferred MVR debit card to receive the limit of USD 750.

The bank further assured that its decision from earlier had no effect on overseas students, who can continue to withdraw up to USD 1,200 per month.

The bank recently noticed that several debits of those who have not frequently traveled overseas were used in ATMs of multiple countries. BML said they had noticed one instance of an individual withdrawing cash from a total of 30 different debit cards.

Sun Online has learned that this is now a common practice by some individuals, who bring the withdrawn cash back to Maldives to sell it at black market rates.