Remittances and the Unbanked (Special Issue)
Last Updated: 02/21/02
On November 9, 2001, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Global Chicago hosted a symposium on consumer international money transfers or “remittances.” These are transfers of funds by individuals in the U.S. to people in other countries. The symposium addressed the human aspects of money transfers, the technicalities of the process, the methods and importance of monitoring financial transactions and ways to improve the money transfer process. Many people who use international money transfers are in the “unbanked” category, meaning they do not have bank accounts, and much attention was placed on money transfers as a way of integrating the unbanked into the mainstream financial system.