Bank of Maldives has introduced new measures to prevent the overseas use of cards belonging to customers who are physically in Maldives.

The bank’s CEO and MD, Mohamed Shareef, in a press conference held today, said the changes follow a new digital integration between BML and immigration authorities.

Under the system, foreign spending limits for POS and ATM transactions abroad will only be activated when the cardholder is outside the country.

“Cards held by individuals in the Maldives will not be usable abroad without the cardholder being present overseas,” Shareef said.

He added that students currently using their parents’ cards abroad will be issued dedicated student cards with specified spending limits.

Parents’ cards can continue to be used until the new cards are issued, which is expected to take up to three months.

BML also announced new restrictions on online transactions, citing pressure on foreign currency reserves.

The bank said the use of rufiyaa cards on international e-commerce platforms had resulted in large volumes of foreign currency being accessed by a relatively small number of users.

To address this, spending on selected commonly used e-commerce sites will now be subject to a daily budget, while other online services will remain unaffected.

In addition, the number of e-commerce transactions per customer will be capped at 30 per month.

The bank also said customers holding multiple credit cards will now be charged an annual fee for only one card.