TIGRA on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Includes Needed Remittance Regulation

TIGRA (Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action) has been involved in organizing international migrants and migration-related organizations around the issue of remittances - something that affects migrant communities all over the world, in sending and receiving nations. Most recently, they have been involved in influencing US policy and are now communicating their support for the recently approved Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which includes much needed protection for people utilizing remittances services.

According to TIGRA:

On July 22nd, President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This financial reform bill, replete with overdue remittance regulation, scores a considerable victory for the United States' forty three million immigrants that support their families from afar. Forever at the mercy of a murky and mostly-unregulated industry, remitters - global sustainers sending forth more than $400 billion a year - can now be assured of increased access to the equations behind their transfers.

The current lack of transparency in the marketplace represents an egregious exploitation of a population dependent on the services of these providers. TIGRA has long sought to right this wrong, recently devising a strict set of accreditation standards to leverage their network into corporate adherence. Fee and rate transparency is first on the list, followed by fair pricing 20% below the industry standard, a philanthropic commitment to community reinvestment, and, fourth, a pledge to avoid any investments that further displace people. After all, our goal is to make migration an option and not a necessity.

Under the Dodd-Frank law, the remittance industry will be at least partially reformed through a variety of newly-legislated requirements:

1. A multilingual written notice, provided prior to each transaction, will explicitly detail the exact amount of local currency destined to the designated recipient, the exchange rate applied to the transfer, and a full-disclosure of any applicable fee structures.

2. Similarly, a post-transfer receipt in the user's native language will be provided. This notice will document the amount of money to be received, expected date of delivery, recipient identification information, and a statement explaining a user's rights regarding error resolution and recourse.

While we applaud the passage of this law and commend the legislators and advocacy groups on their efforts, we must also maintain a pragmatic perspective. As Francis Calpotura, Executive Director of TIGRA and architect of Remit4change.net, says: "Until we reform the prevailing business model itself, one that blatantly eschews corporate social responsibility and proactive community reinvestment, we haven't genuinely affected the predatory nature of this $420 billion industry."

TIGRA (Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action) is a movement center for transnational organizing that promotes financial justice through the economic power of immigrants-those who send billions of dollars to families they've left behind. TIGRA considers the system of remittances as the next frontier of economic security work that links domestic and global issues.

TIGRA (Instituto Transnacional de Investigacion y Accion de Base) es un centro de trabajo de organización transnacional para fomentar movimientos populares abogando por la justicia económica a través del poder económico de los migrantes - los que mandan miles de millones de dólares a sus familias que dejaron atrás. TIGRA considera que el sistema de remesas es la nueva frontera en la lucha por la seguridad económica que une los problemas domesticos con los globales