CHINA: Western Union account-based remittances to be offered in China

Chinese customers of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD Bank) will soon be able to use account-Based Money Transfer services provided by the Western Union Company.

Chinese accountholders of SPD Bank will be offered to send Western Union Money Transfers directly from their accounts via online banking or their mobile phones for cash payout at Western Union Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories. 

Moreover, consumers across the globe will be able to send funds directly to SPD Bank accounts. SPD Bank accountholders will be able to access the funds via the Internet, ATMs and their mobile phones. Read more

ARMENIA: Remittances to Armenia drop 3% in January-October 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net - Remittances at the amount of $1101.2mln were received by physical persons in Armenia in January-October 2010.

According to the CBA monthly bulletin, the figure decreased by 3% ($38.6 million) compared to the same period in 2009.

The largest amount of remittances was received from Russia ($868.2 million), followed by the United States ($99.3 million) and United Arab Emirates $22.5 million). At the same time, remittances from Turkey amounted to $2103thous.

Besides, 4.7% drop was recorded in the amount of remittances from Armenia, totaling $580mln in January-October 2010 against $608.8mln during the same period of last year. 

The net cash inflow decreased by 1.4% during the reporting period, amounting to $687.2mln against $697mln in January-October 2009.

Source

Bangladesh receives $946.989m remittances

DHAKA - Millions of Bangladeshis, living and working abroad, remitted home 945.989 million U.S. dollars in November, 2010 thanks largely to Eid-ul-Azha, one of the biggest Muslim festivals, observed in the last month, a central bank official said Tuesday.

Quoting provisional data, the Bangladesh Bank official, who asked to be unnamed, said, “The flow of inward remittances increased by nearly 2.50 percent in the last month against that in October due mainly to the biggest Muslim festival.” Read more

Indians abroad send more money home than others

New Delhi: With an amount of $55 billion, India continued to be the largest recipient of remittances in 2010. The figure has risen from $49.6 billion in 2009. The country also stands at the second position among countries with largest number of emigrants after Mexico, according to the World Bank's Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, reports Rema Nagarajan of the Economic Times. Read more

VIETNAM: Remittances to reach $7.3b

HA NOI — Overseas remittances have surged strongly this year and were expected to reach US$7.3 billion by year’s end, an increase of over 14 per cent over 2009, said State Bank of Viet Nam Governor Nguyen Van Giau.

The growth in this figure was considerable in comparison to other measures of foreign capital inflows, e.g., foreign direct investment or official development assistance, and had been increasing steadily in the past two weeks, Giau said, suggested that the increased inflows would help stabilise the foreign currency supplies and reserves, as well as the balance of payments. Read more

Estimated $18 Billion/ Year Flows into US Via Remittances

Though immigrants often send money to family in other countries, that trend is a two-way street: US residents also boost the economy with financial help sent from family abroad.


That’s according to data released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau, which for the first time asked residents of more than 50,000 households about the remittances they have sent and received over the past two years.

The Washington, D.C.-based organization Inter-American Dialogue, believes these are very conservative estimates, since according to its own calculations, which take into account a web of migration networks, the amount of money sent to the United States each year in remittances reaches $18 billion.

In any case, there is no doubt that the world’s largest economy not only sends money to other countries in the form of immigrants helping out their families, but U.S. residents also receive help from their loved ones abroad. Read more

PHILIPPINES: A safer and cheaper way to send home money

MANILA, Philippines – The Yuletide season is an opportune time to remember all Filipinos toiling overseas for the future of their families and their country.

Their ever-increasing remittances have been a source of resiliency for the Philippine economy.

Migrant Filipinos send more money than usual to their families during the Christmas season so their loved ones could fully enjoy their Yuletide celebration.

Just before the holidays last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas signed an agreement with the Association of Bank Remittance Officers, Inc. (ABROI), the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), the Chamber of Thrift Banks (CTB), and the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) to enable their members to course the money transfers of OFWs through the BSP’s electronic and settlement system. Read more

Remittance fees to Pacific countries higher than global averages says report

A new report says the average cost of remitting to the Pacific is significantly higher than global averages.

Fiji Live reports that according to the report called "Trends in Remittance Fees and Charges" prepared by Australia and New Zealand, this is a challenge to the Pacific’s primary remittances policy.

It says the average cost of sending remittances to Pacific Island Countries is 21.7 percent of the amount remitted when sent from Australia, and 15.2 per cent when sent from New Zealand.

It says it is estimated that remitters to the Pacific pay at least 90 million US dollars in remittance fees each year. Read more

NIGERIA: Microfinance banks show interest in building project

No fewer than 96 microfinance banks have expressed interest in participating in the IFAD-assisted Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN) in Nigeria.

The national coordinator of the programme, Musibau Azeez, made the announcement on Monday in Abuja, when he led the supervision mission team of the programme on a courtesy visit to Bukar Tijani, the national coordinator, National Programme for Agriculture and Food Security.

The Federal Government in May 2006 approved the blueprint for RUFIN, and in August 2008 signed a loan agreement with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), amounting to 27.2 million dollars, for the implementation of the programme over a seven-year period.

Source

BANGLADESH: Luup And ITCL Launch Q-Cash Mobile

With 26 member banks and largest ATM network of end-user access points as well as over 10,000 post offices branches across Bangladesh, IT Consultants Limited (ITCL) offers crucial payment services to over 100 million people via its hub. Now, ITCL has partnered with mobile payments solutions provider Luup to mobile- enable all services and establish the largest Mobile Payments Hub in Bangladesh.

Many Bangladeshi migrants are working in other countries, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which hosts more than 3.5 million Bangladeshi expatriates. Thus the new hub will offer a convenient solution for receiving and distributing remittances to Bangladesh from the GCC, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The sheer volume of money access points provides a cost effective cash-out network for inbound remittances. Many of these transfers will have been made from money credited via payroll payments directly onto the mobile phone of migrant workers – thus providing them with seamless, cost effective payments corridors.  Read more

Nepal urges IOM to channel remittances towards development interests of LDCs

Ambassador Dr. Dinesh Bhattarai, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations and other International Organisations, on Tuesday described the migration as the defining feature of the 21st century and effective engine for change.  

As global remittance is expected to reach $325 billion in 2010, which is almost three times higher than the average annual flow of ODA, he called upon the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) - migration agency based in Geneva - to come forward in assessing the ways and means of sustaining the flow of remittances in times of economic crisis, channelling remittances towards productive investment and advancing trade and development interests of least developed countries (LDCs). 
Read more

SOUTH AFRICA: Proletariat will now be able to bank at night

JOHANNESBURG - UBank, a workers bank formerly known as Teba, said its partnership with Blue Label Telecoms will help the mining proletariat to cut the pre-transactional costs involved in accessing a bank branch and allow the working class to send remittances home even when the bank branches were closed.

UBank's CE Mark Williams said workers did not have enough time to access a bank branch as they went underground in the morning and by the time they came out of the mine shaft banks  would already be closed. Read more

KENYA: Equity links up with Essar for diaspora cash transfer

Equity Bank has signed a deal with mobile phone firm Essar allowing its account holders to receive international remittances through the yuCash transfer system.

It is banking on an international money transfer infrastructure provider Obopay which also powers the yuCash system to tap into the market as it widens its net on mobile banking. Read more

LEBANON: Debt burden overshadows strength in Lebanese remittances, financial sector

Last month Moody’s noted in regards to Lebanon that “deep structural challenges” (namely high public debt which hampers the scope for productive, public spending; see graph) continue to limit the economy’s longer term potential, though it riterated that a “robust level of external liquidity, a resilient bank deposit base, the government’s strong track record of debt servicing, and the country’s proven ability to mobilize donor support” underpinned its B1 rating for foreign and local currency government debt (raised from B2 last April).  Read more

Burundi: Country Gets New Money Transfer Service

Bujumbura — Econet, a locally registered mobile and wireless voice and data provider, that started operations in Burundi in March last year, has launched a money wire transfer upgrade that will make it possible to transfer money between the different telephone networks in Burundi. This was revealed in a press conference in Bujumbura last week.

"We are continuing to fulfill the promise we made at our launch in March last year. We are unveiling another first," said Econet's MD, Mr. Darlington Mandivenga. Read more

World Bank: Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, second edition

Please download the new report here

Top ten remittance receiving countries (developing countries) in US$ billion (2010e)

India - 55.0 bn
China - 51.0 bn
Mexico - 22.6 bn
Philippines - 21.3 bn
Bangladesh - 11.1 bn
Nigeria - 10.0 bn
Pakistan - 9.4 bn
Lebanon - 8.2 bn
Egypt - 7.7 bn
Vietnam - 7.2 bn

India To Receive $55 Billion Remittances In 2010

DUBAI – Indian expatriates are expected to remit about $55 billion into the country this year as the number of emigrants from the nation is likely to clock 11.4 million, a new World Bank report said. India is likely to stay as the top receiver of remittances in 2010, as inflows of $51 billion to China keeps it a place down, with Mexico at third spot, expecting $22.6 billion from its overseas population.

The World Bank in its ‘Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011′ report said worldwide inflows are expected to reach $440 billion by the year end, with remittances to developing nations are likely to reach a record $325 billion from the 2009 figure of $307 billion. Read more

MEXICO: How important are remittances to Mexico’s economy?

There are millions of Mexican workers in the USA who send a sizable portion of their wages back to their families in Mexico. On a per person basis, Mexico receives more worker remittances than any other major country in the world.

An estimated 20% of Mexican residents regularly receive some financial support from workers abroad. Such remittances are the mainstay of the economies of many Mexican communities, such as many rural areas in Durango, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Jalisco and Michoacán. Studies suggest that the funds sent as remittances are mostly spent on housing, food, clothing and durable consumer goods. A growing portion is being invested in education and small businesses. The corollary is that only a small percentage goes towards savings. Read more

PHILIPPINES: More OFWs using online remittance systems

By Anna Valmero, loQal.ph
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia

MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA – From the door-to-door money transfers highly common during the 1980s and 1990s, more overseas Filipino workers nowadays are sending remittances using the Internet.

A Web-based remittance service is designed to cater to busy, Internet-savvy OFWs who prefer the convenience of sending money quickly and safely from the comfort of their homes abroad without going to money transfer centers.

Up to this day, the remittance delivery market is “highly fragmented” with a lot of players but charges per transaction remain high and there are limited options how beneficiaries will get the money, according to said Timothy Fanning, chief operating officer of Ria Financial Services.

Traditionally, families of OFWs get the money through door-to-door services or by going to a remittance center such as a local bank or pawnshop. Read more

PHILIPPINES: Asia's Social, Mobile Media Trend Setter

While the rest of the Asia and the world are getting fascinated over the power of mobile remittances, Filipinos are yawning over it, probably wondering what makes a service that's available in every urban and rural sari-sari stores in the country is so special. Read more

INDIA: Making foreign remittances easier

Besides service fee, there is a currency conversion charge

With the number of Indians working abroad rising fast, remittances have become a part of life for many families. According to the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Factbook, 2011, India is set to receive the highest remittances in the world this year.

No wonder money transfer agencies (MTAs) such as Western Union and Money Gram are advertising big time and tying up with leading banks, including State Bank of India (SBI). But there are other options for transferring money as well.
SWIFT transfers
These are through the SWIFT network – a system for international inter-bank fund transfers.

Most banks do not cap the amount an individual can send. The number of transactions per year is also not restricted. However, there may be a threshold limit, usually $100-500. Read more

PHILIPPINES: MoneyGram International signs Cebuana Lhuillier Financial Services as direct agent in PH

MANILA, Nov 18, 2010 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) --
MoneyGram International (NYSE: MGI | PowerRating), a leading global money transfer company, on Thursday announced Cebuana Lhuillier Services Corporation (CLSC) as a direct agent in the Philippines .

More than 1,200 Cebuana Lhuillier branches offer MoneyGram?s service nationwide through its Cebuana Pera Padala remittance service. Cebuana Lhuillier has been MoneyGram?s sub-agent for five years prior to this direct agent partnership. Read more

PHILIPPINES: Aquino, OFW money drive investor confidence

Investor confidence in the Philippines reached an all-time high this quarter, driven by perception that the Aquino administration would be able to sustain a strong economy on increasing remittances by Filipinos abroad.

The confidence index hit an all-time high of 50.6 percent this fourth quarter from 45 percent in the third quarter, BSP Economic Statistics director Rosabel Guerrero said in a briefing Thursday, citing results of central bank’s quarterly Business Expectations Survey. Read more

Western banks seek to gain stronger foothold in Africa

Africa's financial market is becoming more interesting to international banks and financial service providers as mobile phone usage increases. Further investment could change the dynamics of the remittance market.

The increase in mobile technology and telecommunications in Africa is attracting international banks and financial service providers to fuel investments. According to a British think tank on international development and humanitarian issues, the Overseas Development Institute, Africa has offered higher profits for multinational companies compared to the rest of the world for more than a decade.

There is emerging evidence that multinational businesses are seeking a greater stake in Africa, especially in financial services. Banks are responding to a growing demand for loans or investment accounts since Africans at home and abroad have started looking for more structured ways to do business.

Even remittances, money sent home by Africans living abroad, are beginning to recover in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. Remittances expert and head of the consultancy Developing Markets Associates, Leon Isaacs, told Deutsche Welle that the mobile phone and internet revolution makes market access in Africa possible. Any African who has a phone knows how to use it, but most of them do not have a bank account. Read more

Kenyan Remittances Rose 13% in September, Country's Central Bank Says

Kenyans living abroad sent home 13 percent more funds in September than a month earlier, the Central Bank of Kenya said.

Remittances totaled $58.6 million compared with $52 million a month earlier, research director Charles Koori said in a statement on the bank’s website today in Nairobi, the capital. Cumulative remittances during the nine months through September climbed 22 percent to $461.4 million from a year earlier, he said.

“The source markets for remittances have on average maintained the same shares, with North America contributing 53 percent and Europe 26 percent of total remittances to Kenya in September 2010, from the survey,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Johnstone Ole Turana in Nairobi via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.