US treasury ends limit on remittances, opens up financial services opportunity - Cuba

US treasury ends limit on remittances, opens up financial services
opportunity - Cuba
Published: Friday, September 4, 2009 16:53 (GMT-0400)
By James Newman / Business News Americas

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US treasury department has
liberalized its remittance policy regarding Cuba, ending its previous
US$1,200 per-person limit and potentially opening up opportunities for
financial services companies.

"Remittances may be made from depository institutions," a statement from
the Treasury Department said. "To facilitate this, depository
institutions are permitted to set up testing arrangements and exchange
authenticator keys with Cuban financial institutions."

The main benefit of the policy change for US financial institutions will
be an increase in volumes, but they will still not have direct access to
wire funds through financial groups operating in Cuba, Daniel Erikson,
senior associate at non-profit research group Inter-American Dialogue,
told BNamericas.

US-based Western Union (NYSE: WU) should be among the larger
beneficiaries of the increased flows, both Erikson and Jaime Suchlicki,
director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the
University of Miami, agreed.

The new rules also soften previous restrictions on to whom the
remittances may be sent, opening them to "close relatives," such as
aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins, but still restricting
transfers to a "prohibited official of the Government of Cuba" or a
"prohibited member of the Cuban Communist Party," the statement said.

The move was in response to the "President's initiative of April 13,
2009, to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to
freely determine their country's future, promote greater contact between
separated family members in the United States and Cuba, and increase the
flow of remittances and information to the Cuban people," according to
the statement.

US treasury ends limit on remittances, opens up financial services
opportunity, Cuba, Banking, news (4 September 2009)
http://www.bnamericas.com/news/banking/US_Treasury_ends_limit_on_remittances,_opens_up_financial_services_opportunity