INTERNATIONAL TRADE : Citibank Developing Mail-In Way to Wire Money to Vietnam

Citibank, which started a money transfer service to Vietnam on Monday, said it is developing a service for customers to send checks and application forms to wire money to friends and relatives in Vietnam.

The mail-in service will accommodate people who live far from Citibank branch offices, said Nancy Goodman, vice president in charge of the Vietnam program at the nation’s largest bank. New York-based Citibank has requested permission from the Office of Foreign Asset Control at the U.S. Treasury Department to provide the mail service, she said Wednesday.

The Treasury Department restricts money transfers to $300 every three months for humanitarian purposes and for supporting family members.

Citibank has set up a toll-free hot line--1-(800)-248-9696--for customers to obtain information on its nearest branch.

Goodman said customers in New York--where the money transfer service to Vietnam was introduced in March--pay a standard $27.50 charge for international money transfers, plus a $2 service fee that goes to the bank’s corresponding bank in Ho Chi Minh City, the Bank of Foreign Trade of Vietnam. The Vietnamese government-owned bank will inform recipients to collect the transferred funds at one of its branch offices in Hanoi and other major cities.

In California, Citibank will charge a bit more--$30--for the transfer, plus the $2 service fee, Goodman said, adding that Citibank subsidiaries in different states can set their own pricing for services.

Currently, the direct funds transfer service is available through Citibank subsidiaries in New York and in California, which has more than 280,000 residents of Vietnamese origin. The service will be introduced later through affiliates in other states--such as the District of Columbia, Illinois and Texas--where there are large Vietnamese-American populations.

There are about 700,000 Vietnamese immigrants in the United States, most of whom arrived after Communists toppled the U.S.-backed South Vietnam government in April, 1975.