BML Doubles Foreign Spending Limit, Adds Fees on Big E-Commerce Sites

Bank of Maldives (BML) announced today that it will increase the monthly spending limit on foreign purchases made with BML debit cards from USD 250 to USD 500. This move aims to better serve customers’ needs for overseas transactions while keeping the service fair for all users.

Currently, BML supports over USD 45 million in foreign transactions each month, with 75% of this spending related to online business and e-commerce purchases. That equals about 17.3 million Maldivian rufiyaa spent daily on such transactions. One-third of these purchases are concentrated on six popular e-commerce platforms: Temu, Shein, Alibaba, AliExpress, Lazada, and eBay. Among them, Temu leads with USD 7 million monthly, mostly for business use.
With the new policy, a 30% transaction fee will be applied specifically to purchases made on these six major sites. However, transactions for everyday needs like air tickets, hotel bookings, and subscriptions will not incur this fee. Debit and credit cards linked to US dollar accounts remain exempt from any new charges.

In addition, due to concerns about foreign ATM withdrawals not related to travel, BML has introduced a new monthly withdrawal limit of USD 125 with a USD 10 fee per transaction.
BML emphasized that the increased limit comes without raising existing fees for general foreign transactions. The bank aims to provide fair access to foreign spending, calculating monthly limits from the first to the last day of each calendar month.