Guidebook helps banks tap into booming immigrant remittance market

The millions of immigrants who send money to relatives back home, be it India or El Salvador, are part of a potentially huge new market for banks.
Immigrants who lack bank accounts are both targeted by thieves as "walking ATM machines" for the large amounts of cash they carry and at the mercy of money transfer companies, which often charge usurious fees. But a nonprofit group seeking to level the playing field for "unbanked" immigrants issued a guide today to help banks and other financial institutions tap into the booming remittance market.

The guide, "Banking in a Global Market," released by the Washington-based Appleseed Network, helps explain to banks and credit unions the reasons many immigrants don't use banks, compares various models some banks currently employ, including partnering with a money transfer operator and offering dual ATM cards, and offers a step-by-step guide for how to set up a remittance program. [Read more]