Wednesday 21 November 2007

Pakistan: Remittances soar over 41 % to reach record $ 580.24 mln in Oct.

KARACHI, NOV 17 (APP) - Home remittances have surged by 41.31 percent or $ 169.63 million to reach a record $ 580.24 million in October, 2007 as against $ 410.61 million in the same month last year.
According to SBP data here Saturday, the previous highest amount remitted in a single month was recorded in May 2007, when Pakistanis sent $ 537.98 million.

Pakistan received an amount of $ 2.082 million in the first four months (July-October 2007) of the current fiscal year 2007-08, showing an increase of $ 437.29 million or 26.60 percent over the same period of the last fiscal year.

The amount includes $ 0.67 million received through encashment and profit earned on Foreign Exchange Bearer Certificates (FEBCs) and Foreign Currency Bearer Certificates (FCBCs). [Read more]

Philippines forecasts 2007 remittances from overseas workers to hit record US$14.1 billion

MANILA, Philippines: Money sent home by millions of Filipinos working overseas is forecast to hit a record US$14.1 billion (€10.9 billion) next year, the central bank said Monday.

The 2006 remittances are expected to reach US$13.4 billion (€10.4 billion), up from US$11.9 billion (€9.2 billion) last year, according to the Philippine Central Bank.

Deputy Gov. Diwa Guinigundo said that a slowdown in the global economy next year may affect demand for Filipino workers, which is already high at more than 8 million, or 10 percent of the population. [Read more]

Philippines: BSP cites steps to improve remittance system

November 20, 2007 Updated 01:04:01 (Mla time) Inquirer

The central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), said it had prepared measures to improve make more transparent the mechanisms for money remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and to cushion the adverse impact of a strong peso on households supported by OFW incomes.

Banks will be required to post in their premises and websites their various remittance products and charges with breakdowns of costs, delivery time to beneficiaries, and other relevant information, the BSP in a recent report to Malacañang. [Read more]

Mobile Payment Infrastructure in Mexico

CPNI has announced an agreement with PROSA (Promocion y Operacion, S.A. de C.V.), the largest provider of electronic transactions in Latin America, in which PROSA will provide financial institutions in Mexico with the centralized payments processing backbone for CPNI's Phone Authorized Transfer (PAT) mobile payment solutions.


PAT global, bank-branded mobile solutions enable bank customers to make payments and transfers or access banking services using a mobile phone. PAT offerings feature global mobile payment message routing, which empowers banks to offer person to person and person to merchant remote payments and transfers as well as mobile banking services. Banks are able to leverage their existing accounts, security processes and settlement channels. [Read more]

Thursday 15 November 2007

Sept remittances up 12.4% on year

Thomson FinancialLast updated 07:17pm (Mla time) 11/15/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- Official remittances from Filipinos working overseas rose in September by 12.4 percent from a year earlier to $1.1 billion, picking up from August's pace of close to 11 percent, data showed on Thursday.

Inflows in the first nine months of the year increased 15 percent to $10.5 billion over a year earlier, the central bank figures showed.

Money sent home from more than eight million overseas-based Filipinos, around 10 percent of the population, has helped drive economic growth to 20-year highs, and is one of the most important components of the domestic economy. [Read more]

Sunday 4 November 2007

India: Strong Rupee & remittance-dependent families

D. Murali
Chennai, Nov. 3 Much has been written about rupee appreciation and its adverse impact, especially on exporters. Not enough, though, has been discussed about a huge section of the population that is dependent on foreign remittance, observes Mr Bhaskar Rao, Executive Director, Wall Street Finance Ltd, Mumbai.

“These people have lost their income by almost 20 per cent as compared to last year. This, coupled with the inflation and the high interest rate, has seriously affected them,” he adds during the course of an e-mail interaction with Business Line.

“Rupee has appreciated beyond sustainable levels. The exchange rate is not justified by its fundamentals at the current level.”

Mr Rao, who was earlier CEO of the company, has about 25 years of experience in the banking and financial services sector, covering areas such as forex, treasury and global money remittance. Wall Street Finance Ltd is involved directly with the end-customers as a service provider for remittance. [Read more]

ICICI Bank launches phone-based remittance in Bahrain

ICICI Bank, India's second largest Bank, has announced the launch of another innovative, convenient and cost effective money transfer service called 'Call and Remit' for its customers in Bahrain.

Under this offering, a customer of ICICI Bank Bahrain can transfer money to his/her family in India by calling up a toll free number, without visiting the branch. [Read more]