The Challenges In The Remittances Industry

Last week the International Association of Money Transfers Networks held it’s 6th MTD2013.  This meeting provided a clear mandate for IAMTN to continue to push forward in representing its member’s interest with all key stakeholders including multilateral institutions and regulators.
 
Veronica Studsgaard, CEO of IAMTN said: “We, at IAMTN, will continue to enhance our work with all stakeholders and to represent the industry wherever we can.  In particular we will continue with the dialogues that we have started with regulators and central banks.  Our intention is to develop a ‘win-win’ solution through a mixture of education, dialogue, and raising awareness. We are delighted with the response we have received from all of the delegates at MTD2013" 
 
During the meeting organised by IAMTN we could learn from a high caliber of speakers that highlighted the enormous optimism in the Gulf area and many new initiatives – compared to the US and Europe. We had a global and regional overview of the industry and we could see that the world is changing order, as Mr. Osama Al Rhama expressed it. Developing and emerging markets will drive global activity, maintaining a wider growth lead over traditional developed nations. The message was clear, that in the remittances industry we must “change to survive”, said Mr. Ahmed Al Rafai.
 
One of the key issues that came up was the difficulty that all MTOs are facing in accessing bank accounts. This is particularly the case with anyone who would like a bank account in the USA, UK and a number of other countries. Banking the sector raises specific challenges as highlighted, but firms that operate to this high standard, and meet all of our requirements in this respect should feel assured of our ongoing support. Mr. Leon Isaacs on behalf of IAMTN updated and examined different options with attending delegates.  Access to bank accounts is getting worse and the conference strongly encouraged IAMTN to do all it could to help address the issue.
 
During the MTD-2013 meeting we could clearly acknowledge that mobile remittances and payments would not take off until there were customer driven solutions and acceptance of payments. There was a degree of doubt shown by delegates to the likely speed of penetration of mobile in the cross-border arena.

MTD-2013 was organised by IAMTN and sponsored by Prabhu Group Inc d/b/a Prabhu Money Transfer and RemitOne. If you would like to contact any of our future events please do not hesitate to contact us at Conferences@iamtn.org .

About IAMTN
The International Association of Money Transfer Networks is the first and only non-profit organization that represents Money Transfer Industry/Payment Institutions across the globe. We actively work with regional money transfer trade bodies. IAMTN was founded in 2005 to respond to repeated calls for a body that could represent the industry at an international level. As a non-profit organisation it has many members around the world and is tasked to create the most effective, safe, reliable and efficient payment system possible. For this purpose IAMTN represents and defends the common interests of it’s Members and works on removing the obstacles that prevent institutions from implementing their activities. IAMTN works closely with government, regulators, payments stakeholders and individuals to improve the payments system.

Contact Information

Veronica Studsgaard

CEO

IAMTN

iamtn@iamtn.org