ABA, banking groups urge CFPB on remittance transfers

The American Bankers Association (ABA) along with several industry trade associations are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to continue to allow banks to provide estimates of pricing information in remittance transfer disclosures.

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This current exception from the requirement to disclose pricing information to remittance customers expires on July 21, 2020.

A remittance transfer is an electronic transfer of money from a consumer in the United States to a person or business in a foreign country

The groups explained that it is not always possible for insured institutions that conduct their remittance transfer business through open networks — where no one institution has end-to-end control over a cross-border transaction — to obtain exact pricing information.

“Absent action taken by the [CFPB] to maintain the ability to estimate, the associations are concerned that the existing market for bank-provided remittance transfers will be significantly disrupted and that many consumers will lose the ability that they enjoy today to make remittance transfers safely, reliably and conveniently through their insured institutions directly from their deposit accounts,” the associations wrote in a letter to the CFPB.

ABA’s subsidiary, the Banking Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT), also encouraged the CFPB to allow banks to provide estimates of pricing information in remittance transfer disclosures