The Market for Remittance Servicesin the Czech Republic : Outcomes of a Survey among Migrants

Nicolì ; , Marco ; Corazza, Carlo

World Bank

关键词: ACCESS POINTS;    ACCESS TO BANK;    ACCESS TO BANK ACCOUNTS;    ACTUAL COST;    ACTUAL COSTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/978-0-8213-8585-2
RP-ID  :  57883

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This survey was conducted by the WorldBank Payment Systems Development Group, at the request ofthe Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, as a followup to the World Bank-led mission that visited the country in2008 to assess the market for remittances. This survey aimsat analyzing the main characteristics of the market forremittances in the Czech Republic and should serve as aguide for both public authorities and the private sector inidentifying possible actions to improve the efficiency ofthe market. A total of 880 migrants from eight differentnationalities were interviewed during the summer of 2009 inPrague. The nationalities selected represent the largest andmost important migrant communities in the country: China,Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, the Russian Federation, theSlovak Republic, Ukraine, and Vietnam. The following mainfindings can be extracted from the analysis of thesurvey's outcomes: i) a low level of transparency andconsumer protection can be observed in the market forremittances in the Czech Republic. Senders are often notprovided with all the relevant information by the RemittanceService Provider (RSP) at the moment of the transaction; ii)the lack of transparency is confirmed by the analysis of thecost as perceived by the interviewees, who do not generallyconsider the margin applied by the RSP as a price component.As a result, remittance senders are in general not aware ofthe actual cost that they are paying for the service; andiii) the market is dominated by Money Transfer Operators(MTOs) and, in particular, some MTOs hold the great majorityof the market shares.