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Member organizations of Community Organizations International (formally ACORN International) launched a grassroots campaign to reform the global remittance market today with coordinated actions in cities across India, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Dominican Republic, Kenya, Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The targets of the actions; Scotia Bank, HSBC, Western Union, MoneyGram and the Reserve Bank of India are major players in the global remittance market that in 2008 topped $300 Billion.

Community Organizations International is calling these corporations to commit to meetings with our leadership in the coming weeks to discuss proposals to reduce costs and improve the flow of remittances to the developing world.

Scotiabank, one of the institutions targeted by Community Organizations International (COI) in our recent Day of Action of remittance rates has announced they will voluntarily reduce their remittance charges.

While we applaud any reduction in costs, the pricing structure of Scotiabank remittance products remains out of line with the costs of providing the service.  Further the deepening relationship between Scotiabank and Western Union remains at the heart of this issue. 

If working families are to see the reduction in costs that would transform remittances from a predatory financial product to one that reduces poverty in the both the north and south, then banks like Scotiabank and alternative financial services providers like Western Union will need to go a lot further than these recent announcements.

For more, check COI Chief Organizer Wade Rathke’s blog post on the topic.

http://chieforganizer.org/2010/02/02/small-scotia-steps-on-remittances/