Informal channels rival remittance firms
11 August 2005
Companies wanting to boost their share of China's US$22bn money-transfer business face competition from informal channels, The South China Morning Post reported, citing Ian Marsh, Western Union Financial Services' senior vice-president for Asia Pacific. As much as US$9bn to US$11bn, or 40% to 50%, of the country's in-bound remittance transactions last year may have been conducted through underground operators or otherwise gone unrecorded, Marsh said. Informal channels, such as people mailing cash in envelopes or moving funds through unregulated operators, are cited as the biggest competitor on the Mainland by Western Union. The US-based firm estimates cash remitted into China last year might have accounted for more than 10% of the US$159bn global cross-border remittance market.