NGO seeks reduction of remittance fees

A non-government organization serving Asian migrant workers has said that billions of pesos from overseas Filipino workers’ income have been lost to high cost of remittance services, ranging 8 to 15 percent. In a report on the high cost of remittances, the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) said that majority of the more than eight million overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) send money home through money transfer agencies rather than through the banks. According to the MFA, money transfer agencies charge 8 - 15 percent in fees and commissions, resulting in billions of lost income of migrant workers. The group takes part in the global campaign against high cost of remittances and one of its advocacies is the adoption by money transfer agencies the so-called “transnational community benefits agreements" (TCBA). Under the proposed TCBA, money transfer agencies should reinvest $1 per transaction in communities where they operate; adopt standards of fairness and respect; and abide by corporate social responsibility criteria that promotes the human rights of remitters and their families. “As a leading competitor in the remittance market, immigrant groups are asking Western Union to set an example by adopting the TCBA. The campaign for the adoption of the TCBA will also take shape in Asia and the Philippines," the MFA said. In February this year, Western Union, one of the money transfer agencies with operation in the country, announced it opened 600 more locations, bringing its total number of outlets in the Philippines to over 6,000, the report said. “Last year Western Union made 147 million transactions, which would have been a healthy fund for what would essentially be a Community Reinvestment Act applied to a company that controls 17.4 percent of the remittance market," it said. In 2006 Western Union reportedly profited about $1 billion, and that in the past five years the company has nearly tripled the number of its outlets, now hitting 305,000 worldwide. Western Union has over 52,000 agent locations in 38 countries and territories of the Asia Pacific region. The Global Campaign Against High Cost of Remittances had been launched in the United States by immigrant communities including Mexicans, Salvadorians, Somalis, Kenyans and Filipinos asking for the adoption of the TCBA. -Luis Gorgonio, GMANews.TV