Follow the Money: The cost of sending money home
Business Daily

Follow the Money: The cost of sending money home

B1IntermediateOctober 19, 202617 min
  • Documentary
  • Business & money

Some economies are increasingly dependent on migrants sending money home to their families. But how much does it cost, and who's making money from a business worth around $900 billion a year? Sam Fenwick follows a transfer from a housekeeper in London to her family in the Philippines, tracking the money every step of the way. We talk to one of the world's biggest transfer companies about the fees involved, and to a remittances expert who argues that while costs have fallen, they still need to come down further. Producer: Gideon Long You can email the...

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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. It's Monday lunchtime in a house in London and Riza, the housekeeper, has just finished her morning's work. She's spending her break doing what she does two or three times every month,

1:11

sending money home to the Philippines. Today it's £410, about $540, and by the time it reaches her family, some of that will have gone into someone else's pocket. Millions of people around the world do the same. So once the money leaves Reza's phone, who takes a cut on the way, who gains from it, and who ends up paying? Hello, I'm Sam Fenwick and this is Business

1:39

Daily on the BBC World Service. Today we're following the money home. Before we get into the money chain, let's establish how much money we're talking about. Gideon Long, who produces Follow the Money, is with me and he's been looking into this. So how much is it, Gideon? It's a huge amount. The World Bank estimates that migrants sent 905 billion

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