On 14 on March, Barry Cooper was invited to participate in the Cross-Border Remittances & Money Transfers Conference 2018 in Johannesburg to share insights on the flows of remittances in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and barriers to the adopt of formal providers to facilitate them. The conference was attended by national, regional and international remittance, payments and AML/CFT experts.
The presentation highlighted the scale of remittance inflows into SSA and especially intra-SSA and the importance of these flows in capital-scarce markets. It looked at the cost drivers keeping SA as the most expensive remittance corridor in the world which include inefficient national payment systems, persistently high demand for over-the-counter (OTC) remittance services despite technological advances, as well as the high level of informality in the sector. It concluded with steps on how to start overcoming these cost drivers to enable low-cost and inclusive formal flows into and within the region.
This work forms part of the Risk, Remittances and Integrity programme, a partnership between FSD Africa and Cenfri.