Orozco pointed out that a Central American immigrant sends his family between $3,000 and $3,500 on average per year.
From that amount, he added, an average of $1,200 is saved in each home in Central America that receives remittances; however, he warned that "60% of those savings is placed under the mattress."
He said that only 30% of those that receive remittances through the banking system are saving at a bank.

Source: elsalvador.com

More on this topic

Bankarization of Remittances in Guatemala

October 2013

For every $100 that migrants send to their families between $30 and $35 are in some way related to banking services.

Prensalibre.com reports: "If you take into account that from January to September this year family remittances, according to the Bank of Guatemala, totaled $3.801 billion, the amount that passed through banks was between $1.1403 billion and $1.3303 billion" .

Remittances for $13.06 billion to Central America in 2011

March 2012

By country: Guatemala $4.37 billion; El Salvador $3.65 billion; Honduras $2.86 billion; Nicaragua $1.05 billion; Panama $592 millions; Costa Rica $530 millions.

Inter-American Development Bank Report:

Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean rose to $61 billion in 2011

Panama Leads Region in Banking

January 2011

Panama ranks second in Latin America in number of bank branches and ATMs per 100,000 people with 90.28, surpassed only by Brazil with 99.37.

"Banking, or access to banking services, plays an important role in economic development of countries and in reducing poverty while promoting income distribution."

Very Little Bank Use by Nicaraguans in Costa Rica

May 2009

The Academy of Central America heads a group of companies and institutions seeking to promote the use of banking services in this sector.

With funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Office of Technical Cooperation of Spain, the project seeks to combat poverty in this immigrant sector, for which it is implementing different methods, including lower remittance costs, by intensifying the use of banking services such as savings accounts.