The global money-transfer industry makes huge profits by charging a fee to transfer money to another country as well as off of exchange rates. For illegal immigrants who don’t have proper identification, it’s almost impossible for wire transfer companies to “know their customers.”

Globalisation has created a demand for a cheap and mobile labour force, notes Rob McCusker in his article on underground banking written for the Australian Institute of Criminology. There is often the cultural expectation, he says, that migrant workers will send a proportion of their earnings to families back home.

Development experts believe remittance flows can help reduce poverty and grow economies. However, a big chunk of the remittances go to pay hefty bank fees.

Read the full article here: UN.org