From Yahoo:
“PayPal expands payments
services to help Ukrainian citizens, refugees”
PayPal Holdings Inc on Thursday
expanded its services to allow Ukrainian citizens and refugees to receive
payments from overseas, a move a senior Ukrainian official called a huge help
as Russian forces continued to attack the country. PayPal Chief Executive Dan
Schulman told Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov in a letter that
Ukrainians would also be able to transfer funds from their PayPal accounts to
eligible credit and debit cards. The company has waived its fees on such
transactions through June 30. More than 3 million Ukrainians have fled the
country since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, an action Russia has
described as a "special military operation.".
PayPal's move will allow refugees
and Ukrainians to receive funds from friends and family members in the United
States and elsewhere, and could also be used to transfer social payments by
governments in the future, said Vladyslav Rashkovan, Ukraine's alternative
executive director at the International Monetary Fund. "It makes a huge
difference for people," Rashkovan told Reuters, lauding Schulman's
personal engagement in accomplishing the change in just two weeks. Rashkovan
said he spoke with some Ukrainians on the street outside his office about the
new capability and they immediately opened an account to send money to their
relatives. Ukrainian officials have been pushing for the expanded services
since 2015, after Russia annexed the Crimea region, he added.
PayPal said it would start making
the expanded services available on Thursday, with customers able to send and
receive funds from their Ukrainian PayPal Wallet in dollars, Canadian dollars,
British pounds and euros. Once a customer transfers funds from their PayPal
Wallet to an eligible Visa or MasterCard debit or credit card, the money will
be available in the currency associated with that card. While PayPal is waiving
its fees for several weeks, it noted exchange rates and fees charged by a
customer’s card issuer or bank account may still apply. Previously, Ukrainian
citizens could send money from PayPal accounts, but were unable to receive
funds. PayPal earlier this month shut down its services in Russia, joining many
financial and tech companies in suspending operations there after its invasion
of Ukraine.
^ This is great news for Ukrainians.
^
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