United Kingdom
345
Notes 1. The survey was conducted by Developing Markets Associates Ltd (DMA). (http://www.developingmarkets.com/dma). DMA provides advice and management services to donor agencies, governments, and the wider business community in three areas of expertise: remittances, investment programs, and international development events. Its goal within the remittance market is to encourage greater amounts of funds to be remitted through formal channels at the lowest possible cost and at the greatest possible efficiency. 2. The four case studies in the chapter boxes are based on interviews at businesses visited during the RSP survey. The companies’ identities have not been divulged to protect the firms’ privacy. 3. The £4.1 billion estimate was included in a statement from Her Majesty’s Treasury that was read in the House of Commons. 4. The U.K. Office of National Statistics identifies these other key receiving markets (in order of largest to smallest remittance volumes): Germany, Ireland, the United States, France, and Australia. These countries do receive significant remittance volumes from the United Kingdom but are not considered developing markets. 5. Unless otherwise stated, findings about the RSP market refer to both formal (including banks) and informal providers. 6. “Light touch” is Her Majesty’s Treasury’s term to describe its regulatory approach. 7. All money service businesses in the United Kingdom—including MTOs, currency exchanges, and other nonbank financial institutions—are registered with HMRC. As of June 2008, there were 1,751 registered money service businesses in the United Kingdom. 8. M-PESA, a mobile-phone money transfer service, has become the most popular mode of money transfer in the Kenyan domestic market. Its branchless banking service was developed for mobile telecom company Vodafone. Now the largest mobile-phone money transfer operator in Africa, M-PESA offers domestic money transfer services in Kenya and is currently working with Western Union to kick off cross-border money transfer services. 9. Subsequent anecdotal discussions with MTOs have shown that they hope the PSD will enable banks to look upon authorized PIs more favorably. 10. Although Chequepoint was a large RSP at the time of the survey, it stopped operating in the United Kingdom in 2009 because of the PSD. 11. The US$200 was assumed to be the equivalent of £100 (at the time of the survey), which, coincidentally, is about the mode for transactions made from the United Kingdom. The average transaction size is estimated to be £275.