LaBITconf, the Latin American Bitcoin and Blockchain conference is probably one of the conferences that I enjoy the most every year. And this time, in its 7th edition in Montevideo, Dec 12-14, it was quite an event again. LaBITconf is so full of life, creativity, originality, where you can feel the desire for change, a…
This past November in Miami, we celebrated 10 years of IMTC, with an event that we all are very proud of, IMTC WORLD 2019. This year it marked a record in the number of participants and sponsors, but most of all we had a great diversity in companies & institutions that keep on opening our…
Global payment and remittance companies constantly search for a competitive advantage: service enhancements, promotions, industry segments and target customers to name a few. As the world gets smaller and more connected technologically and in communications, those breakthroughs are harder to find, or at least more difficult to differentiate unique features vs. the available options. Enter…
Migrant Services Providers, from Travel & Foreign Exchange, to Remittances, airtime (top-ups), bill payment and now courier services, keep agents afloat while digital services continue their growth Download PDF Money Transfer Agents are a common feature in all migrant neighborhoods in cities across all the 5 continents. Full of services for migrants, they normally serve…
Both social and economic trends in Latin American and Caribbean countries are increasingly shaped by migration and its intersection with development and economic growth. Therefore, understanding future of migration and how its affect the region can offer cues as to the direction countries will take. An outlook of migration in Latin America and the Caribbean…
Introduction The US Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) requires that every Money Services Businesses (“MSB”) implement a BSA/Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) Compliance Program. Risk assessments provide a clear view as to the organization’s policies and procedures. Failure to implement a comprehensive BSA/AML Compliance Program may result in significant fines and/or penalties by state and federal regulators. So,…
Nigerians can be found in most countries of the world. Nigerians are numerous in the United States and the UK, followed by South Africa, UAE and other European countries such as Italy & Spain. As a US survey showed, Nigerians in the US are one of the highest educated migration groups. Due to the ever-growing…
You can’t miss Sofia Freyder. She’s currently Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase for digital payments. Iron straight platinum blond hair, red lipstick, and poise that contrasts the sea of men in what often feels like a ratio of 10 to 1 at a money transfer conference. I hesitate to do the cliche thing of focusing…
This year’s Consensus 2019 was dubbed the “survivor” conference, which eludes to how only the ones delivering real value remain in the blockchain industry after the overpopulation of 2018. I quietly had lunch on Day 2 and met a Henry Balani who took a break from crypto and started talking to me about international money…
I split my time between the crypto and international money transfer world. To speak in generalities, the energy, mindset, and concerns are dramatically different. When it comes to compliance, however, I do think some parts of the cryptosphere are starting to edge closer: Fear the regulator — or your business will face capital punishment. No…
Last week at the ESTA Conference, the European Cash Management Companies Association’s yearly event, this time in Vienna, I moderated a panel entitled “The war on cash: black clouds or blue sky ahead?”. For the panel, I had the opportunity to have some of the best speakers on the subject.
I hold a special place in my remittance heart for Faisal Khan, a name you’ll surely see if you Google anything on remittances or money transfers. Faisal is also an advisor to Hippocorn, a venture capital firm out of Denmark. I would not be working on the RemTECH Awards with the director of the International…
The Money Transfers & Remittances industry is a relatively young industry. Started in the early eighties, it saw a great technological breakthrough, the fax, that transformed the way orders were filled in distant corners of the earth and transmitted for payment. The evolution since then has been mesmerizing. I analyze the trends in the industry…
Leon Isaacs once joked that he’d throw me over a boat when I met him in New York at the first RemTECH Awards back in 2016. The comment from the CEO and co-founder of Developing Markets Association (DMA) was in response to the research I had published on the US remittance market. DMA is a…
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