The Antimonopoly Prosecutor in Chile sides with MSBs on Bank Account Closures

We thank our colleague Carlos Grossman, for the report out of Chile where the Antimonopoly Division of the National Economic Prosecutor Office (División Antimonopolios de la Fiscalía Nacional Económica – FNE)  reports the investigation that took place after an August 2015 complaint by a Forex Firm denouncing seven banks of denying the opening of a…

Family Remittances and “de-risking”: The Case of Mexico

Mexican migrants in the USA are first class Mexicans. They are in general the risk-taker population, hardworking, with a different work ethic compared to the average American worker. They give a different value to their labor and the remuneration that they receive for that effort. Some are prosperous entrepreneurs too. Success stories abound throughout the…

Remittances, Migration & the Trump Effect: The Press Asks Questions

“It is the migrant, most of the time forgotten, who is sustaining the economy”
Diario La Hora – Guatemala – Jan 20, 2017

Hugo Cuevas Mohr, director of IMTC (International Money Transfer Conferences), has worked for years advising bank and non-bank institutions on international money transfers, payments and remittances. In preparation for the IMTC regional forum that will be held in Antigua, Guatemala in March 8-10, he visited the country to talk about migration and remittances, in a moment where the appointment of Donald Trump as President of the United States has brought the subject to the foreground.

Cuevas-Mohr warned that countries in the Central American region and Mexico should not wait to take preventive measures that could protect migrants should US authorities push for legal changes that affect them.

Remittances to the South Asia Region (SAR)

In his latest Remittances & Development Brief dated April 2016, Mr. Ratha and his team and the World Bank Migration and Remittances Team commented that remittances to the South Asia Region (SAR) are estimated to have grown moderately in 2015 by around 2%. The continued economic uncertainty of high-income remittance-source countries and the impact that oil prices have had on remittance flows from GCC countries have certainly impacted a more favorable outlook for 2016 and beyond. Maybe the improving economic prospects in the United States and the increase in oil prices, plus the continued spending on developments projects in the GCC countries and the brighter outlook for the economic improvement of their countries- which makes migrants invest in their home countries, can make the reported remittance volumes grow.