New EU initiative to reduce the cost of remittances announced

The European Union proposed action to cut the cost of remittances and deliver on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in their Consultation on a retail payments strategy for the EU. This must be delivered, and the Nothing to Hide Foundation community will make sure that this happens.

We're so grateful to the EU for the exceptional leadership they've shown on the issue of transparency in remittances. However, the extension to the Cross Border Payments Regulation does not go far enough. Particularly it will not help consumers making payments outside of the EU.

This initiative should deliver for the millions of Europeans sending money to friends and family outside of the EU, vital for growing financial inclusion.

As they say in their consultation:

"While there has been substantial progress towards SEPA, cross-border payments between the EU and other jurisdictions, including remittances, are generally more complex, slow, opaque, inconvenient and costly. According to the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide database, the average cost of sending remittances currently stands at 6.82%.

"The United Nations Sustainable Development goals also include the reduction of remittance costs to less than 3% by 2030."

In the coming months we'll be asking you, our generous community to contribute to this consultation, and get the EU to continue their leadership on transparency in international payments.