BS&T has learned the names of 16 banks committed to
participating in a SWIFT global pilot starting next month that aims
to increase banks' involvement in the lucrative worker remittance
market.
At least a couple of major U.S. banks are expected to join the 16
that have allowed their names to be released, before the test of
new SWIFT communication formats for interbank remittance processing
starts.
U.S. banks are estimated to have just 3 percent of the global
remittance processing business, while banks worldwide have are
variously estimated to have between them only between 10 percent
and 30 percent of that growing business. Remittance processing, now
mostly done by money transfer operators, such as Western Union, is
reckoned to be worth about $15 billion a year in revenues.
Half of the initial group of 16 pilot banks come from South
America, predominantly Columbia. The initial group includes: Banco
do Brasil (Brasilia, Brasil); Banco Davivienda/Bancaf (Bogota,
Colombia); La Caixa (Barcelona, Spain); Standard Chartered Bank
(Hong Kong, China); ICICI Bank Ltd. (Mumbai, India); Russlavbank
(Moscow, Russia); Standard Bank of South Africa (Johannesburg,
South Africa).
The others are: Wall Street Exchange Centre LLC, (Dubai, UAE);
Financiera Cambiamos, (Bogota, Colombia); Giro y Finanzas, (Cali,
Colombia); Macrofinanciera, (Bogota); Banco BHD S.A. (Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic); Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito,
Codesarrollo, (Quito, Ecuador); Banco de Guayaquil, (Guayaquil,
Ecuador); Banque Centrale Populaire, (Casablanca, Morroco); and
FirstRand Bank Limited, (Johannesburg, South Africa).
It has not been determined which region or "payment corridor" will
be tested first.