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Emirates Post in partnership with India Post have launched the Express Money Order (EMO) service to India.

The service was launched in the presence of Ibrahim Bin Karam, CEO of Emirates Post, and Lakshmi Narasimhan, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, India.  The launch was inaugurated with the first customer in UAE sending money to his wife in Chennai.  Once the transaction was processed at the counter in UAE, an SMS containing a secret code was received immediately by the customers wife in India.  This was shown to the teller in the Post Office and the money was received.

Mr. Bin Karam said that they had partnered with India Post because "has the world's largest network of post offices, penetrating every corner of the country".  This will allow money to be sent cheaply to even the most remotest areas, a service that isn't possible through normal channels.

"The Universal Postal Union systems are being used to transport the details of the transactions to give security and peace of mind to the users of the service", said Mr. Bin Karam.

The International Money Order service works in two ways, either a Post Office branch can be designated to for collection of monies, or for an additional fee small transfers can be delivered directly to the beneficiaries residence.

India has the worlds largest network of post offices numbering 155,333, and having outlets in even the most remotest of areas.

A more detailed story is available at AME Info.

A recent poll has shown a down-turn in the numbers of Latin American immigrants who are sending money back home to their families.  According to the poll, only 50% of Latin Americans are sending money compared to 73% when the survey was conducted in 2006.

There could be a myriad of factors influencing this figure, but it is generally agreed that these are the first signs of the current credit crisis hitting the money transfer business as more money is directed at mortgage payments.

40% of those surveyed were illegal immigrants so the survey took in a broad spectrum of the Latin American population of the United States.

One highlight of the survey was that Latin American residents of California are planning to increase the amount of money they send abroad this year by 11%.  On average 15 payments are sent annually, each with an average value of $325.

More information about this survey can be found at the Los Angeles Times.

Money transfer is a booming business in the Gulf according to figures from the World Bank.

New figures prepared for the Money Transfers Dubai Conference show that the UAE alone accounts for $27billion of this amount.  It is projected that this figure is set to grow by 20 per cent per year.

World Bank figures show that, though officially the money transfer business turns over $500 billion a year, the true figure is nearer twice as much as money is sent through more unofficial methods such as hawala.

Recent advances in money transfer via mobile phone networks has seen an increase in the use of official channels and this trend is set to continue.

Globally the main source of money transferred is from the US, followed by other wealthy Western countries.  India is currently the largest recipient of money transfers at $27billion per year, closely followed by China with $25.7billion.

More on this story can also be found at the Khaleej Times.

Emirates Post and India Post yesterday launched a new e-money order service to Kerala, India.

The service is designed to allow money to get quickly and reliably to even the most remotest parts of the state where previously people will have had to travel many miles to their nearest bank or post office.

With this new system, small amounts of money are delivered directly to the beneficiaries home by postal workers.  Larger remittances can be collected either from a bank or post office, or received as a cheque.

An estimated Rs250 billion rupees are sent to Kerala residents by their families working in the Middle-East, most of which is currently being transferred through banks and money transfer agencies.

This service has also been launched in various cities around India including Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkatta, Chennai, and 46 other locations.

More detail on this story can be found at the Khaleej Times.

The Sri Lankan government has approved plans for Western Union to provide money transfer services through Sri Lanka Post.

Sri Lankas 4000 post offices will be equipped with PC's and other equipment and staff will be trained over the coming year to use Western Unions system.

The government is hoping to increase foreign currency in-flow by facilitating the means to tranfer money.  Via the postal system, people even in the most remotest areas of the country will have for the first time be able to easily receive money from abroad.

The agreement, valid for two years, was signed on the 22nd of April 2008.

More detail of the agreement is available at the Asian Tribune.

PayPal and US mobile operator Sprint have partnered to start a new money transfer service.

Sprint subscribers with a PayPal account will now be able to send money to anyone in the world who has either a mobile phone number or email address.

Mobile money transfer is an increasingly important market, with its immediate reach to the end customer, instant service, and usefulness in remote areas.

More on this story can be found at Finextra.

Highlights for the quarter include:

• Revenue of $1.3 billion, up 12%
• First quarter 2008 marks the fourth consecutive quarter of organic revenue growth acceleration
• EPS of $0.27, up 8%; or $0.29, up 16% excluding restructuring expenses
• Operating income margin of 24%, or 26% excluding restructuring expenses
• Cash provided by operating activities of $318 million
• Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) revenue and transactions increased 14%
• International C2C, which was 67% of total revenue, grew revenue and transactions 19%
• Consumer-to-business (C2B) revenue grew 4%, transactions up 3%
• Quarter closed with 345,000 agent locations

Read more at Business Wire.

Obopay has announced the launch of its money transfer service in India through a partnership with Yes Bank.  The launch of this service sees a very large increase in the reach of the Obopay service , potentially reaching a quarter of a billion people.

Obopay wish to give "consumers power over their money, no matter where they are".

They are planning to add 8 million customers per month through 2008.