The conference, "Payments in the Americas," brought together financial sector leaders and policy makers throughout the Western Hemisphere to learn about the burgeoning remittance market and the Bank's objective to facilitate electronic payments and reduce costs to consumers, according to a report postred on the Global Atlanta Web site.
"People move north by the millions and money moves south by the billions," said Mr. Terry, who formerly held a number of key positions at Congress and the U.S. Treasury Department, including deputy assistant secretary from 1979-1981.
According to a report on remittances commissioned by the Organization of American States, global remittances by immigrants to their countries of origin are estimated at $200 billion annually. For most countries, remittances exceed the volume of foreign aid and investment.
Mexico, at $15 billion annually, receives the most remittances from the U.S., the report said.
"The system has been hidden in plain view for generations," said Mr. Terry, who explained that while it was known that immigrants from Africa, Ireland, Italy, Mexico and Spain, among others, sent money back to support families, the scope of the money transfers far exceeded anyone's expectations.
Most often both senders and recipients do not utilize banking institutions for remittances, said Mr. Terry, employing instead wire transfer companies such as Western Union and the postal service.
In the late 1990s, dispatching a $200 remittance electronically to Mexico cost as much as 15 percent of the amount sent, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of International Migration.
By early 2004, that rate had been cut to 7.32 percent. However, further price reductions might be difficult to achieve under current market conditions, the report said.
Western Hemisphere presidents set a goal to reduce money transfer costs by 50 percent within five years at the OAS' Summit of the Americas last January.
Larry Schulz, vice president of international retail payments at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said the Bank is working to establish relationships with banks outside the U.S. to facilitate and lower the cost of international money transfers.
According to data from the Mexican Migration Project, a multi disciplinary research effort between investigators in Mexico and U.S. that tracked remittance patterns of immigrants transferring funds to Mexico, an average of 71 percent of household heads who migrated to the U.S. remitted money home on a monthly basis.
Average remittances exceeded $450 per month, accounting for over 40 percent of remitters' mean monthly earnings. Only 42 percent of the immigrants in the study were documented workers during their last U.S. trip, and only 14 percent had a U.S. bank account.
The Census Bureau estimated last month that the number of Hispanics in Hall County is around 35,000.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/10/149418