Money movers wake up to working migrants
6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
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June 29, 2015 7:50 pm
Money movers wake up to working migrants Aaron Stanley in Washington
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Rising flow of remittances to former Soviet countries sparks innovation among transfer industry
©AFP
M
uch has been said and written in western Europe about the economic impact of migrants from the former Sovient bloc countries. Less attention has been paid to the remittances those migrants are sending back home. But the world’s money transfer industry is taking notice. Companies such as Western Union and Moneygram — which traditionally make their money in Latin America http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
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6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
and Southeast Asia — are eyeing central and eastern Europe (CEE) as one of the biggest remittance growth areas in the world. According to the World Bank, 20m people from CEE countries lived and worked in an EU country different from their place of birth in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available. In 2014, those migrants sent $28.5bn back to CEE countries, up 10 per cent from 2013 and 31 per cent from 2012. Such transfers accounted for 56 per cent of the total remittances received by the CEE countries, up from 45 per cent in 2013. For poorer and wartorn countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine, these flows from large diaspora populations are a significant component of gross domestic product.
The rest of the CEE region relies much less on remittances than big recipients such as China, the Philippines and Mexico. Nevertheless, the region has benefited from the free movement of labour that comes with membership of the European Union. “Labour started to really move in 2012 and 2013,” says Odilon Almeida, Western Union president for the Americas and the EU. “That really expedited and grew our market in this part of the world.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
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6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
Flows from western Europe to the EU’s new entrants from the former Soviet bloc, such as Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic states, have increased in comparison with those to states that remain outside the EU, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. Western Union is rolling out a scheme to make it easier for customers to send and receive remittances. It is partnering with MasterCard and Banca Transilvania, Romania’s thirdlargest bank, to allow remittances from anywhere in the world to be withdrawn in Romania from automated teller machines or transferred directly into a bank account.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
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6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
The plan chimes with the growing use of technology by CEE migrants. One in seven send money home using mobile phones, while an increasingly “banked” population in eastern Europe prefers receiving money directly into a bank account rather than in cash. Countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary that border western Europe continue to lead the way in terms of total remittance amounts, but the market is rapidly extending eastward, with Romania emerging as the second largest recipient of EU remittances after Poland.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
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6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
Workers from the more developed central European economies are also more productive in terms of average amounts remitted per migrant worker. While the typical migrant sends home $1,700 annually, a worker from Hungary remits almost $5,500 — 10 times the amount sent by counterparts from Russia, Belarus or Macedonia.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
5/6
6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
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http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
6/6
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
Be first to use FT.com’s new prototype site. Opt in here (you can opt out at any time). EM SQUARED
June 29, 2015 7:50 pm
Money movers wake up to working migrants Aaron Stanley in Washington
Share
Author alerts
Clip
Gift Article
Comments
Rising flow of remittances to former Soviet countries sparks innovation among transfer industry
©AFP
M
uch has been said and written in western Europe about the economic impact of migrants from the former Sovient bloc countries. Less attention has been paid to the remittances those migrants are sending back home. But the world’s money transfer industry is taking notice. Companies such as Western Union and Moneygram — which traditionally make their money in Latin America http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
1/6
6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
and Southeast Asia — are eyeing central and eastern Europe (CEE) as one of the biggest remittance growth areas in the world. According to the World Bank, 20m people from CEE countries lived and worked in an EU country different from their place of birth in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available. In 2014, those migrants sent $28.5bn back to CEE countries, up 10 per cent from 2013 and 31 per cent from 2012. Such transfers accounted for 56 per cent of the total remittances received by the CEE countries, up from 45 per cent in 2013. For poorer and wartorn countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine, these flows from large diaspora populations are a significant component of gross domestic product.
The rest of the CEE region relies much less on remittances than big recipients such as China, the Philippines and Mexico. Nevertheless, the region has benefited from the free movement of labour that comes with membership of the European Union. “Labour started to really move in 2012 and 2013,” says Odilon Almeida, Western Union president for the Americas and the EU. “That really expedited and grew our market in this part of the world.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
2/6
6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
Flows from western Europe to the EU’s new entrants from the former Soviet bloc, such as Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic states, have increased in comparison with those to states that remain outside the EU, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. Western Union is rolling out a scheme to make it easier for customers to send and receive remittances. It is partnering with MasterCard and Banca Transilvania, Romania’s thirdlargest bank, to allow remittances from anywhere in the world to be withdrawn in Romania from automated teller machines or transferred directly into a bank account.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
3/6
6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
The plan chimes with the growing use of technology by CEE migrants. One in seven send money home using mobile phones, while an increasingly “banked” population in eastern Europe prefers receiving money directly into a bank account rather than in cash. Countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary that border western Europe continue to lead the way in terms of total remittance amounts, but the market is rapidly extending eastward, with Romania emerging as the second largest recipient of EU remittances after Poland.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
4/6
6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
Workers from the more developed central European economies are also more productive in terms of average amounts remitted per migrant worker. While the typical migrant sends home $1,700 annually, a worker from Hungary remits almost $5,500 — 10 times the amount sent by counterparts from Russia, Belarus or Macedonia.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
5/6
6/29/2015
Money movers wake up to working migrants FT.com
Follow us on Twitter @em_sqrd RELATED TOPICS
Share
European banks, European Union
Author alerts
Where is the Greek contagion?
Clip
Gift Article
Athens wakes up to closed banks
Comments
Contained euro contagion
Printed from: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others.
© THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2015 FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/71227fda18ea11e58201cbdb03d71480.html#axzz3eSvU0WvC
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