Very Little Bank Use by Nicaraguans in Costa Rica

©image: Daniel Borman

With funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Office of Technical Cooperation of Spain, the project seeks to combat poverty in this immigrant sector, for which it is implementing different methods, including lower remittance costs, by intensifying the use of banking services such as savings accounts.

It is estimated that only 15% of the remittances that Nicaraguans send to their country are handled through banks.

Economist Ricardo Monge, director of the project, told Elfinancierocr.com that "they will develop a pilot project with 35 enterprises in the northern zone of the country, where a good portion of Nicaraguans live. So far, 80 business ideas have been identified in the area (specifically in Upala, Los Chiles and Guatuso). Among these, a select group will be chosen and training will be provided for a period of six months to discuss and try to convert ideas into more solid projects."

Source: elfinancierocr.com

More on this topic

Panama Leads Region in Banking

January 2011

Panama ranks second in Latin America in number of bank branches and ATMs per 100,000 people with 90.28, surpassed only by Brazil with 99.37.

"Banking, or access to banking services, plays an important role in economic development of countries and in reducing poverty while promoting income distribution."

Suggestion that remittances on the Isthmus be sent through the banking system.

August 2008

Manuel Orozco, coordinator for the Inter-American Dialogue Development and Remittances Program, recommended to lawmakers from Central America and the Dominican Republic that they encourage that the banking system be used to send family remittances.

Orozco pointed out that a Central American immigrant sends his family between $3,000 and $3,500 on average per year.

Guatemala: Multilingual Speaking ATMs

July 2011

The installation of ATMs using Mayan languages has led to increased banking activities by indigenous populations.

The program, developed by the Rural Development Bank (Banrural), began in 2005 with 108 machines, and now has 420 multilingual ATMs, which as well as offering instructions in Spanish, can also cater to Mayan speakers of Quiche, Cakchiquel, Q'eqchi ', Ixil, Mam and q'anjob'al.

Bank consolidation in Central America

July 2008

The process of consolidating banking services in Central America is linked to the entrance of international banks into the region and the potential for attracting new customers to use banking services.

In the last two years, there's been a change in the way consolidation takes place.