Bajans can now send money OUT via Western Union

De Standpipe Crew welcomes this new development. It was very annoying that for many years we could RECEIVE money from outside of Barbados via Western Union but (except for a few brief time periods) we could not use the same service to send money out of the country to our family, friends and loved ones. The convenience and good sense of this latest financial service helps us move towards world-class status. All of the people involved in making it happen are to be highly commended.

De Standpipe Crew

http://www.nationnews.com/story/298733432239902.php

Easier to send money out
Published on: 2/28/08.

From today, Barbadians can send foreign currency out of the island through Western Union’s operations at RBTT’s commercial banks.

And while the island’s growing immigrant and migrant worker population were factors in the move, RBTT’s marketing and customer service manager Frank Drakes said it was also a service demanded by many Barbadians.

The move was announced during a Press conference with top officials of the world’s largest money transfer service providers and RBTT at the bank’s Broad Street, Bridgetown office yesterday.

According to Tarcisio Bortoletto, Western Union’s regional vice-president for the Caribbean, Barbados was among the very few countries that regulated foreign exchange outflows, but the RBTT and Western Union had worked with the Central Bank of Barbados to ensure the remittances could be facilitated through the money transfers.

Money transfers out of the country as gifts are limited to the equivalent of $10 000 annually.

President and chief executive officer of RBTT Barbados John Beale, said the usual checks to ensure that the process was not tainted by money laundering would be undertaken.

“Western Union has the experience of working in over 200 countries and with the globalisation process, the demand to screen to ensure that those transactions are safe is becoming standard.

“It is pretty much well known what are the controls that you have to have in place and we are bringing the knowledge . . . and adapting to the reality of Barbados, working with the Central Bank and RBTT . . . and between the three of us we are very confident that the transactions that will be coming in and out are absolutely legitimate transactions,” Bortoletto stressed. (GE)