Along with this increase, the Bank has also introduced changes to control the misuse of debit cards including the use of personal debit cards for business purposes and handing over debit cards to third parties to withdraw cash overseas.
BML
As part of its commitment to support overseas spending for its customers, Bank of Maldives (BML) has announced an increase in the monthly foreign transaction limit for its debit cards to USD500 per month, effective 1 July 2025.
Along with this increase, the Bank has also introduced changes to control the misuse of debit cards including the use of personal debit cards for business purposes and handing over debit cards to third parties to withdraw cash overseas. Therefore, with the increase in the monthly foreign transaction limit to USD500 for payment of goods and services, the bank has announced that ATM cash withdrawal overseas will be USD125 per month for debit cards and the fee for cash withdrawal overseas will be USD10.
The Bank also noted in their statement that they continue to see high volumes of USD transactions on MVR debit cards on selected e-commerce sites (Temu, Shein, Alibaba, AliExpress, Lazada and eBay) for business purposes. In order to curb this, the bank has announced that effective 1 July 2025, a transaction fee up to 30 percent will be charged for purchases on these selected e-commerce sites. This transaction fee will not apply to other online foreign transactions such as hotel bookings, international flight tickets or subscriptions. Further, this transaction fee will not apply to customers using debit cards linked to USD accounts or credit cards.
The changes announced today will support essential payments for goods and services on MVR debit cards for customers. Furthermore, going forward, the monthly foreign transaction limits will be reset from the 1st of every month.
