On the occasion of the International Day of Family Remittances, June 16, 2016, KNOMAD, the WORLD BANK and IMTC invited the general public to a one-hour virtual session entitled: Migration & Remittances: Global Trends, Outlook and State of Play. Speakers were Dilip Ratha, Head, KNOMAD and Lead Economist, Migration and Remittances, World Bank and Hugo Cuevas-Mohr, Director, IMTC Conferences and Mohr World Consulting. Here are the Voice Recordings and the available transcripts.

We also want to THANK all the institutions that signed the pledge and we hope to make the IDFR 2017 a great success!
Part 1: Dilip Ratha | Part 2: Hugo Cuevas-Mohr | Part 3: 5 Questions with Answers

Dilip Ratha (Audio Length: 13 minutes 32 seconds)

Listen online or Download the mp3 Audio File to hear the full introductory remarks of the virtual session made by Dilip Ratha presenting his analysis of the current trends in Migration & Remittances in which he makes reference to his latest (April 2016) document Migration and Development Brief 26

The transcript of the audio file is available here (PDF)

Hugo Cuevas-Mohr (Audio Length: 10 minutes 10 seconds)

Listen online or Download the mp3 Audio File to hear the full introductory remarks of the virtual session made by Hugo Cuevas-Mohr presenting his analysis of the current trends in the International Money Transfer & Payments Industry.

The transcript of the audio file is available here (PDF)

Question 1 (Audio Length: 10 minutes 45 seconds)

From Mario Trujillo, Chairman, President & CEO of DolEx Dollar Express, Inc.
The two biggest worldwide existential issues for family remittances are derisking and excessive regulations. What are you all doing to accelerate your efforts to reverse these existential risks which are directly opposed to your policies for development, inclusion and overall promotion of family remittances?

From Padmanabhan Markandan, Regional Vice President – Americas, Xpress Money Services Ltd.
From With Banks summarily closing down bank accounts or being extremely cold to Money transfer companies, the challenge is to keep things going from a customer’s perspective. How can Regulators, World Bank and institutions come together to make banks adopt a more business friendly approach?

Dilip answer the question explaining the role of the World Bank and sharing his ideas of possible solutions. Hugo added some comments.

Question 2 (Audio Length: 5 minutes 37 seconds)

Question from Wire Cash

What tool metrics do you use to identify countries where there is an over reliance on remittances? What are the migration trends and how they will impact remittances in the future?

Question 3 (Audio Length: 3 minutes 23 seconds)

Question from Soonhwa Yi from The World Bank

Could you explain Hugo a little bit more about the MTO cases you mentioned where they have taken banks to the courts with some success. Could you explain more how they were able to lead this cases into success and what does that mean going forward for other MTO cases specially in the remittance receiving countries?

Question 4 (Audio Length: 3 minutes 41 seconds)

Question from Sonia Plaza from The World Bank

Hugo, how we can really convince banks not to close bank accounts? Because at the end the banks say: “is too risky, is too costly”. I want to hear your point of view what can be done to solve the problems we are facing?

Question 5 (Audio Length: 4 minutes 26 seconds)

Question from Wire Cash

How will industry consolidation impact remittances in the coming years? What sort of disruption are we expected to see in the financial sector going forward?

Full Audio of the Session: 27 minutes 53 seconds

This file is also available in the World Bank’s website: here