Bank of America to offer free remittance service to Mexico
Bank of America Corp. is dropping its fees to transfer money to Mexico, a service that will benefit millions of its Hispanic customers, the bank said Wednesday.
The new service, called SafeSend, will be available to any customer with a personal checking account with the Charlotte-based bank. The service was tried on a limited basis in Chicago and now the bank plans to expand it across the U.S.
“We are proud to help millions of Hispanics send money for free to loved ones in Mexico,” Liam McGee, president of Global Consumer and Small Business Banking at Bank of America, said in a news release.
“Adding the free SafeSend feature to our checking accounts is our way of saying that we want to do much more,” he said. “We want to be their bank of choice and help Hispanics develop rewarding, long-term financial relationships.”
Recipients will be able to pick up cash at more than 4,500 locations in Mexico. Customers can identify up to three beneficiaries, send as much as $1,500 per remittance and up to $3,000 over 30 days.
“Our Hispanic customers told us that they wanted lower transfer fees, money to be paid in cash over the counter in Mexico, and a broader distribution network convenient to their family and friends,” Diane Morais, a consumer and small business products executive at Bank of America, said in a statement.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, about half of all Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. send money regularly to their home country. According to Banco de Mexico, Mexico received $16.6 billion in remittances in 2004. That figure is expected to grow to almost $20 billion in 2005.
More: miami.com
Bank of America Announces Free Nationwide Remittance to Mexico
ank of America today announced its
free nationwide remittance service that is making it easier for millions of
Hispanics to send money to Mexico by eliminating transfer fees. Called
SafeSend(R), the new feature is available to anyone who has a Bank of America
personal checking account. Earlier this year, Bank of America became the first
major financial institution in the United States to offer free remittances
when it introduced the product in Chicago.
"We are proud to help millions of Hispanics send money for free to loved
ones in Mexico," said Liam McGee, president of Global
Free fund transfers to Mexico offered
Bank of America has teamed with several Mexican banks and government-run agencies to offer free money transfers for Mexicans living in the United States.
Bank officials said last week the business aim of the transfer service - called SafeSend - is to gain customers among a sector of the population in which relatively few people have bank accounts.
"We don't see ourselves in the remittances market," said Eduardo Vergara, senior vice president in charge of international remittances at Bank of America. He said that 41 percent of Hispanic households in the U.S. have accounts at the bank.
The
Banks come up short in channeling remittances into products - Mexico
Banks are handling a growing share of the dollars Mexicans abroad send home, but are still looking for a way to channel those funds into financial products like loans, bank executives said at a press conference Wednesday.
Most of the remittances come from US-based Mexicans and amount to billions of dollars each year, the conference heard.
"We and our partner Bank of America have been looking at how to structure these types of transactions so those [remittance] flows would help a Mexican get a mortgage. It's something we still haven't developed
Bank Of Nova Scotia Goes Wholesale Into Mexico >BNS
When Mexican retailer Grupo Chedraui decided to bid for a group of supermarkets owned by France's Carrefour S.A. (12017.FR), it turned to a Canadian bank.
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) sent a team of merger & acquisition specialists to guide the retailer through the process. Along the way, the Toronto-based bank helped Chedraui finance the $550 million purchase, provided foreign-exchange services and helped it hedge its interest-rate risk.
That, says David Wilson, chairman of the bank's investment-banking wing Scotia Capital, is the kind of cross-selling potential Bank of Nova Scotia sees in Mexico.
UPDATE 1-Bank of America sells Mexico asset management firm
Bank of America Corp. (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it will sell its asset management business in Mexico to Grupo Financiero Santander Serfin, the Mexican subsidiary of Madrid-based Grupo Santander (SAN.MC: Quote, Profile, Research)(STD.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
Terms of the deal, expected to close no later than the end of first-quarter 2006, were not disclosed. The Mexico business has about $1.8 billion under management.
Bank of America said it decided to sell the business because it did not have sufficient synergies with the company's corporate and investment banking and cash management businesses
Frontier Continues March Through Mexico With Launch of Acapulco and Cozumel Service
Post-Hurricane Wilma, Cozumel is 'Open for Business'; Frontier is First and Only Airline to Offer Non-Stop Service From Denver
The past weekend was busy for Denver-based Frontier Airlines (Nasdaq: FRNT - News) as the airline launched its latest two Mexican resort destinations -- Cozumel and Acapulco on Dec. 17 and Dec. 18 respectively. The two cities are Frontier's sixth and seventh destinations in Mexico, complementing its existing non-stop Denver service to Cancun, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. Both Cozumel and Acapulco will utilize Frontier's new 132
Delta Adds Nonstop Flights From LAX To Mexico, Central America
Delta Air Lines announced Monday that it will add nonstop flights from Los Angeles International Airport to 11 destinations in Mexico and Central America later this winter.
The new routes are part of the airlines effort to accommodate Hispanic customers, officials said.
Los Angeles is at the heart of Hispanic culture in the United States and we are pleased to expand our service to meet the needs of our customers in this growing West Coast market, said Glen Hauenstein, an executive vice president with Delta.
Beginning in December, Delta Air Lines
Stockton-Mexico airline service may be approved
AeroMexico Airlines could begin flights from Stockton to Guadalajara, Mexico, in the spring if San Joaquin County supervisors vote to approve the plan on Tuesday.
At issue is whether the county should accept a $2 million loan from the San Joaquin Council of Governments to build a customs and immigration inspection facility at Stockton Metropolitan Airport.
The airport currently has no airline service but supports growing airfreight activity.
Federal grant money would be used to repay the loan, but some supervisors have gone on record questioning the fiscal responsibility of accepting a loan, given the airport’s history of
Delta to fly eight new routes to Mexico
Delta Air Lines Inc. on Tuesday said it plans to fly eight new routes to Mexico as part of its bankruptcy reorganization plan, which includes boosting international capacity.
The nonstop service would include flights from Atlanta to Acapulco and Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa; from Boston, Cincinnati and Washington to Cancun and from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa.
Delta is waiting for clearance from the Transportation Department on several of the routes but, if added, the new flights would more than double its service to Mexico by April 2006.
The additions are a response "to
Banorte to Offer Services in Mexico Telegraph Offices (Update1)
Grupo Financiero Banorte SA, Mexico's fourth-biggest lender, entered an agreement to offer banking services through 1,554 Mexican government telegraph offices and expand into small towns.
Clients will initially be able to withdraw cash, make deposits, check account balances and apply to open an account at the telegraph offices as part of the non-exclusive contract the Monterrey-based bank signed with the government-controlled telegraph company, Banorte Chief Executive Luis Pena Kegel said.
Pena Kegel is seeking to expand into areas that aren't served by any banks as Banorte faces more competition from international
