Reducing the Cost of Sending Money to the Pacific

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and Developing Markets Associates Ltd (DMA) are pleased to announce that they will be partnering on an AusAID and NZAID led initiative to reduce the cost of remittances from Australia and New Zealand to South Pacific Island nations.

With many households in the South Pacific region relying on remittances to meet their everyday essential living expenses, AusAID has commissioned DMA to develop and manage a remittances price comparison website, www.sendmoneypacific.org that will allow migrants from eight South Pacific island nations to compare all available remittance services to their home country from both Australia and New Zealand. The site will allow them to compare costs, methods of transfer, speed of transfer and exchange rates so that they are better informed as to what is the best option for them when sending money back home to friends and family. Similar initiatives in other parts of the world help to reduce the total costs paid by remittance customers, many of whom are among the lowest earners in the country they are sending money from.

The World Bank has estimated that if the cost of remittances around the world were to fall by 5 percentage points then an additional $13 billion could be received by the beneficiaries of remittances in some of the world's poorest households.

DMA will work closely in Australia and New Zealand with communities from Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, to ensure that the dedicated website will provide transparent, accurate and easy to understand information for its users across the South Pacific region.

Leon Isaacs, CEO of DMA said 'We are delighted to be working on this project and commend AusAID for taking the initiative to bring transparency to the remittance market. This will encourage a more competitive marketplace and help reduce remittance costs.'

www.sendmoneypacific.org is projected to launch in early 2009. Please visit www.dmassocs.com and www.moneymove.org for further updates.

For further information on the 'Reducing the Cost of Remittances to the Pacific' contract, please contact DMA on +44 (0) 20 7700 1990 or at info@dmassocs.com.

Useful references:

• French Agency for International Development money transfer site: www.envoidargent.org
• A guide to sending money from Germany: www.geldtransfer.de
• A guide to sending money from the Netherlands: www.geldnaarhuis.nl
• A guide to sending money from Norway: www.sendpenger.no
• UK Remittances Price Comparison Sites: www.sendmoneyhome.org; www.moneymove.org
• Global remittances database library: www.moneymove.org

About DMA

DMA is an expert development consultancy specialising in the fields of remittances and inward investment flows to emerging markets. Key members of its team have over 20 years experience within the remittances arena and have advised a number of governments in developing price comparison remittance sites and on optimising inward investment flows.

DMA has an extensive worldwide portfolio in both developed and developing countries and is scheduled to open its first Australian office in Sydney in October 2008.

Leon Isaacs
CEO
Developing Markets Associates

T: +44 (0) 2077002266
M: +44 (0) 7909938305
E: leon.isaacs@dmassocs.com
W: www.dmassocs.com
W: www.moneymove.org