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Business and Economics > Banks and Banking

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 68 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Remittances x
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Cover FinTech Notes
Estimating the Impact of Digital Money on Cross-Border Flows: Scenario Analysis Covering the Intensive Margin
Eugenio M Cerutti
,
Melih Firat
, and
Hector Perez-Saiz
Digital money and digital payments innovations have the potential for improving cross-border payments by reducing costs, enhancing speed, and improving transparency. This note performs an empirical analysis of the potential impact of digital money on the volume and transaction costs of cross-border payments, with a focus on the short-term intensive margin. The market of cross-border payments is very large, with retail transactions having a low share of the total but the highest transaction costs, particularly for remittances. Our illustrative scenarios assume an estimated 60 percent reduction in transaction costs and short-term elasticities to changes in costs estimated from remittances data. The results show two outcomes. First, the cross-border volume increases could be sizable for countries that are large remittance recipients and face expensive transaction costs. Second, even with a large drop in transaction costs, the short-term rise in global cross-border transaction volumes could be limited as a result of the low transaction costs of the wholesale segment. Moving outside the short-term intensive margin, the impact could potentially be much larger as digital currencies and other digital payments innovations—together with tokenization of assets on programmable platforms—could move the financial system into a transformative new era by fostering financial development and promoting further inclusion across borders.
Keywords:
Digital money; cross-border payments; transaction costs; digital payments; payments innovation; cross-border payment; scenario analysis; IMF Fintech Brownbag Seminar; IMF seminar; Remittances; Central Bank digital currencies; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Correspondent banking; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Samoa: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This Selected Issues paper explores a safe payments corridor for Samoa. This paper provides a targeted analysis of money laundering/terrorism financing risks pertaining to remittances to Samoa, confirming limited risks, and discusses potential opportunities for operationalizing existing remittances risk assessments and streamlining applicable anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements. Remittances play a crucial role in the Samoan economy and are an important source of income for many households. Addressing AML/CFT-related frictions when sending remittances has the potential to reduce remittance costs and save scarce supervisory resources. Closer cooperation and information exchange between AML/CFT supervisors can reduce risk, provide regulatory certainty and reduce costs. Enhanced cooperation can also promote AML/CFT regulatory and legislative harmonization. The recommendations should be considered in the context of broader national objectives to address the unintended consequences of money transfer operator de-banking. Due to the critical role of remittances, addressing the correspondent banking relationship pressures on remittance service providers should be also considered in the context of achieving national objectives in the areas of social, labor, and foreign policies.
Keywords:
money transfer operator; sectoral risk assessment; Australia labour mobility; transaction report; remittance corridor; risk remittance product; Remittances; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Medium taxpayer office; Correspondent banking; Financial sector; Australia and New Zealand; Pacific Islands; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Managing Remittances Inflows with Foreign Exchange Intervention
Maria-Angels Oliva
and
Nika Khinashvili
In a 157 emerging markets and developing countries sample, remittances continue to grow fast, outpacing other financial inflows (as a share of GDP), particularly in Asia. Without alternative policy instruments, foreign exchange interventions (FXIs) have often been the authorities’ go-to tool to manage the short-term effects of these remittance inflows. However, this practice comes at a cost. This paper shows that FXIs are quick, temporary solutions that often may hinder the development of the recipient country’s financial sector and may not support financial stability over the medium term. The analysis suggests that FXIs act as an insurance tool that, by mitigating FX volatility, protect remittance recipients and tradable sectors from FX risks, encouraging less bank deposits (consistent with more spending) and lower buffers in the banking sector. These costs add to other direct FXI-related costs already identified in the literature. The development of private sector market risk management tools should support longer-term structural reforms required to increase the absorptive capacity of additional FX inflows.
Keywords:
remittance inflow; remittance recipient; FX volatility; FX risk; FX inflow; Remittances; Commercial banks; Bank deposits; Foreign direct investment; Asia and Pacific; Eastern Europe; Africa; Western Hemisphere; Middle East
Cover IMF Working Papers
Central Bank Digital Currency Adoption: A Two-Sided Model
Brandon Tan
For central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to accomplish their intended objectives, it is necessary for both consumers to use them and for merchants to accept them. This paper develops a dynamic two-sided payments model with both heterogeneous households and merchants/firms to study: (1) The adoption of CBDC by households and firms, and (2) The impact of CBDC issuance on financial inclusion, informality, and disintermediation. Our model shows that there is a feedback loop where more households will adopt CBDC if more firms accept CBDC and vice versa -- incentivizing both households and firms will result in greater levels of take-up. Households are more likely to adopt CBDC if it is low cost, provides an attractive savings vehicle, reduces the cost of remittances, improves the efficiency of government payments, and (if accepted by merchants) offers a valuable means of payment. Firms are more likely to accept CBDC if fees are low, if there are tax exemptions or subsidies for transactions made in CBDC, and if households who prefer to make payments with CBDC make up a large share of revenue. Upon CBDC issuance, an economy can get stuck at a steady state with low CBDC adoption and small welfare gains if the features of CBDC which do not rely on merchant acceptance (remuneration, efficiency of cross border and government payments) are not sufficiently attractive, or if the households benefiting from these features make up a small share of merchant revenue. Temporary subsidies and using CBDC for government payments can spur initial take-up to transition an economy to a welfare improving steady state with high(er) CBDC usage. Greater adoption of CBDC will result in greater financial inclusion and formalization, but potentially the disintermediation of banks and card payments. Thus, there is a trade-off in designing CBDC for greater adoption. However, the gains are more likely to outweigh the risks in lower income economies with larger unbanked populations and informal sectors.
Keywords:
Central bank digital currency; financial inclusion; informality; digital money; disintermediation; two-sided market; adoption; payments; CBDC wallet; CBDC issuance; central bank digital currency adoption; government payment; CBDC usage; Central Bank digital currencies; Income; Remittances; Bank deposits
Cover IMF Working Papers
How Do Transaction Costs Influence Remittances?
Mr. Kangni R Kpodar
and
Patrick A. Imam
Using a new quarterly panel database on remittances (71 countries over the period 2011Q1- 2020Q4), this paper investigates the elasticity of remittances to transaction costs in a high frequency and dynamic setting. It adds to the literature by systematically exploring the heterogeneity in the cost-elasticity of remittances along several country characteristics. The findings suggest that cost reductions have a short-term positive impact on remittances, that dissipates beyond one quarter. According to our estimates, reducing transaction costs to the Sustainable Development Goal target of 3 percent could generate an additional US$32bn in remittances, higher that the direct cost savings from lower transaction costs, thus suggesting an absolute elasticity greater than one. Among remittance cost-mitigation factors, higher competition in the remittance market, a deeper financial sector, and adequate correspondent banking relationships are associated with a lower elasticity of remittance to transaction costs. Similarly, remittance cost-adaptation factors such as enhanced transparency in remittance costs, improved financial literary and higher ICT development coincide with remittances being less sensitive to transaction costs. Supplementing the panel analysis, the use of micro data from the USA-Mexico corridor confirm that migrants facing higher transaction costs tend to remit less, and that this effect is less pronounced for skilled migrants and those that have access to a bank account.
Keywords:
Remittances; Transaction Costs; Elasticity; Migration; elasticity of remittance; remittance market; remittances flow; remittance cost; cost-mitigation factor; Income; Exchange rates; Correspondent banking; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
El Salvador: 2021 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for El Salvador
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
The pandemic interrupted ten years of growth, but El Salvador is rebounding quickly. Robust external demand, resilient remittances, and a sound management of the pandemic—with the help of a disbursement under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) (SDR287.2 million or US$389 million) approved in April 2020—are supporting a strong recovery. Persistent fiscal deficits and high debt service are leading to large and increasing gross fiscal financing needs.
Keywords:
Salvadorian authorities; authorities of El Salvador; anti-smuggling plan; government finance statistics manual; El Salvador's authorities; authorities' estimate; Virtual currencies; International reserves; Currencies; Remittances; Central America; Caribbean; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Tajikistan: 2013 Article IV Consultation-Press Release and Staff Report
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
Tajikistan successfully completed a 3-year ECF-supported program in May 2012 and needs to continue with ambitious reforms. While growth is robust, it is non-inclusive, leading to large-scale outmigration that makes Tajikistan the most remittance-dependent country in the world. The country remains the poorest of the eight in the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) and stands next to last among the seven with rankings in the ease of doing business. Reliance on commodity imports, a narrow export base, and low buffers leave the economy vulnerable. Weak macroeconomic policy frameworks restrict the authorities’ ability to dampen shocks. State-directed lending and investment displace market-financed activity and create fiscal risks. Presidential elections are scheduled for November.
Keywords:
burden indicator; NBT reform action plan; flows shock; creating flow; headline inflation; NBT website; IMF's transparency policy; NBT internal audit; policy discussion; NBT Law; fund request; remittance inflow; Debt sustainability analysis; Monetary statistics; Global; Central Asia and the Caucasus
Cover IMF Working Papers
Legal Aspects of Central Bank Digital Currency: Central Bank and Monetary Law Considerations
Wouter Bossu
,
Mr. Masaru Itatani
, and
Arthur D. P. Rossi
This paper analyzes the legal foundations of central bank digital currency (CBDC) under central bank and monetary law. Absent strong legal foundations, the issuance of CBDC poses legal, financial and reputational risks for central banks. While the appropriate design of the legal framework will up to a degree depend on the design features of the CBDC, some general conclusions can be made. First, most central bank laws do not currently authorize the issuance of CBDC to the general public. Second, from a monetary law perspective, it is not evident that “currency” status can be attributed to CBDC. While the central bank law issue can be solved through rather straithforward law reform, the monetary law issue poses fundmental legal policy challenges.
Keywords:
Central Bank Digital Currency; CBDC; Blockchain; Cryptocurrency; Crypto assets; WP; central bank law; monetary unit; book money; digital currency; law reform; token-based CBDC; Central Bank digital currencies; Currencies; Central bank legislation; Legal support in revenue administration; Payment systems
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Guatemala: Request for Purchase Under the Rapid Financing Instrument-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Guatemala
International Monetary Fund. Western Hemisphere Dept.
This paper focuses on Guatemala’s Request for Purchase Under the Rapid Financing Instrument. The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is severely impacting Guatemala. Faltering external demand, declining remittances, and the necessary lockdown and social distancing to contain the virus, have disrupted economic activity and severely worsened external and fiscal positions. IMF support under the Rapid Financing Instrument will help address the urgent balance of payments and fiscal needs, improve confidence, and catalyze support from other external partners. In order to support the recovery and counter future shocks, the authorities intend to maintain an accommodative monetary policy stance and exchange rate flexibility. While credit risk regulations have temporarily been eased to facilitate loan restructuring, the authorities are closely monitoring banks’ exposures and the levels of provisioning to ensure the stability of the financial system. The Guatemalan authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to ensure that emergency financing is used effectively, transparently, and through reinforced governance mechanisms.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; Guatemala's request; request for emergency; urgent balance of payments; financing; BANGUAT authorities; procurement system; COVID-19; Balance of payments assistance; Remittances; Credit; Central America; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Do Remittances Enhance Financial Inclusion in LMICs and in Fragile States?
Samy Ben Naceur
,
Mr. Ralph Chami
, and
Mohamed Trabelsi
This paper explores the relationship between remittances and financial inclusion for a sample of 187 countries over the period 2004-2015, using cross-country as well as dynamic panel GMM regressions. At low levels of remittances-to-GDP, these flows act as a substitute to formal financial channels, thereby reducing financial inclusion. In contrast, when remittance-to-GDP ratio is high, above 13% on average, they tend to complement formal access and usage channels, thus enhancing financial inclusion. This “U shaped” relationship highlights the role of remittance flows in financing household consumption at low levels, while raising formal household bank savings and allowing for more intermediation, at high levels of remittance-to-GDP.
Keywords:
WP; remittance inflow; Remittances; Financial inclusion; Financial Stability; Financial Development; remittance flow; squared remittance; effect of remittance; inflows to GDP; GMM estimator; Commercial banks; Financial sector development; East Asia; South Asia; Asia and Pacific; banking sector matter; income level