Objective 20: Promote faster, safer and cheaper transfer of remittances and foster financial inclusion of migrants

The Government of Japan has put in place the Payment Services Act to encourage customers to use new service providers with low commission fees.

Italian authorities have been working on further enhancing the supply of basic banking products for migrants. Since 2011, the National Observatory for the Financial Inclusion of Migrants provides ongoing structured analyses and monitors migrants’ financial inclusion. 



The recently established National Committee for planning and coordination of financial education activities, will contribute to the design and promotion of initiatives aiming to enhance

Indonesia is working on a new business model for remittance transfers that will focus on cash to account or account to account approaches. This will seek to boost financial services access for women and vulnerable persons.



A pilot on remittances based on non-cash platforms is expected to be followed by banks, telecommunication companies and post offices. This pilot will aim to harmonize relevant regulations with AML/CFT standards. 

Under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, many public-sector banks offer accounts that charge no fees for remittances. 



To streamline the remittance arrangement under the Speed Remittance Procedure and make remittances more cost-effective, the Government of India has removed the mandated requirement of maintenance of collateral or cash deposits by the Exchange Houses with whom the banks have entered into the Rupee Drawing Arrangement. 

The German price comparison portal ‘www.GeldtransFAIR.de’, which obtained World Bank certification in 2014, is currently being redesigned to make it more user-friendly. The new website (including a mobile version) is to be launched in 2018.

Since the G20 Summit of 2015, France has adopted a National Plan on Remittances which seeks to: (i) facilitate remittances by reducing their costs; (ii) maximizing the value of remittances by orientating them towards sustainable and growth-generating projects; (iii) improve its knowledge of remittances fluxes to develop a better understanding of migrants’ needs. The improvement of migrants’ access to financial products and services was already one of the axes of a law adopted in 2014.

In its 2015-2017 National Remittance Plan, the Government of Canada focused on increasing transparency and consumer protection for Canadian remitters; to this end, Canada has undertaken a national survey to better understand remittances providers’ needs and has been discussing with financial institutions how to improve remittance market competitiveness. 

The Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) constantly monitors the foreign exchange market and undertaking studies with the objective of fine-tuning regulation to simplify FX procedures, increase competitiveness and lower costs.

The Central Bank of Argentina started a process in 2015 to ease foreign exchange (FX) market regulations, thereby exerting a direct and far-reaching effect on the operation of international transfers and leading to a more flexible and competitive context to send and receive remittances to and from abroad. The new regulation allows Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) access to the FX market for transfers abroad without limits on the amount transferred.

The government of El Salvador, through the experience of linking migration with development seeks a productive, economic, social and cultural integration of migrants and their families; as well as the guarantee of their economic, social and cultural rights.