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" .
From the month of September recipients of remittances in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador will be able to receive them on their mobile phones.
By using a its cellular network platform, the Guatemalan company Tigo Money, a subsidiary of Tigo, will offer international services for money receipts.
Since early 2011, Tigo Money has been in the remittance business nationally in Guatemala.
Tigo announced yesterday that it will increase the number of Tigo Money agencies in Guatemala from 1400 to 2000, in order to reach populations without banking facilities in rural areas.
Tigo Money started as a remittance service that allows cost-effective money transfers to Tigo users in Guatemala, and it is now making preparations so that these agencies, which are installed in convenience stores, drugstores and gas stations in local communities, can also to pay microcredit.
$4.5 billion a year comes from the U.S., generating a fierce battle between 22 banks and transfer companies that compete for the market.
The stiff competition for larger pieces of the cake that makes up remittances is leading banks and financial companies to sign alliances and join forces.
For example the company AirPak / Western Union this week signed an alliance with Banco de los Trabajadores (Bantrab) in order to increase their participation in the remittance business through the promotion "Remesa del Norte” (Remittance from the North). Customers participate in a draw for a car, motorcycles and appliances with each consignment.
The banks have announced an agreement to provide a remittance service known as ExpressSend.
The new service will allow Guatemalans based in the U.S. to directly deposit money into savings accounts in Guatemala using any of the six thousand Wells Fargo service points.
"Wells Fargo is already operating remittance transactions with Banco Industrial (BI) and the Rural Development Bank (Banrural) in the country.
From the second quarter the company will introduce a project to provide financial services through cell phones.
Brayan Peralta, CEO of remittance products for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean, said that through this service the benefits of the financial system will be extended for reciept of remittances.
"Through the project ‘Visa Giro’ (wire transfers) the firm wants to take advantage of the growth in money being sent to families, by offering innovative services to send and receive money", said the manager to Prensalibre.com.
Monthly Index of Economic Activity (IMAE), exports, remittances, international reserves, exchange rates, inflation, tax collection, banking system, foreign investment, tourism and outlooks.
Oscar E. Mendizábal, editor of the Blog “Desde Guate” (From Guatemala), gathers and analyses the main factors influencing the Central American economy (except Panama) during the first six months of this year.
Expatriates in the U.S. will be able to purchase medicines for their relatives in Guatemala.
Drugs and medicines can be purchased from any city in the U.S. and delivered to homes in Guatemala, with a $1 surcharge.
Novartis inaugurated this program in alliance with Meykos drugstores, Money Gram and Western Union.
Novartis marketing chief, Fernando Martínez, was interviewed by local newspaper El Periodico, and quoted as saying: "Customers sending remittances want to be sure that medicinal costs are covered, and this opens a business opportunity".
Central American banks were booming -- but close ties with the USA darken their future.
Central American was undergoing an interesting banking system evolution. Now the crisis has hit hard. Remittances have dropped and so has international business. More expensive capital halts investments in infrastructure and global liquidity restrictions will have a strong impact.
Manuel Orozco, coordinator for the Inter-American Dialogue Development and Remittances Program, recommended to lawmakers from Central America and the Dominican Republic that they encourage that the banking system be used to send family remittances.
Orozco pointed out that a Central American immigrant sends his family between $3,000 and $3,500 on average per year.