Mexico | Remittances, means of sending, and dollars in cash

Only 0.7% of remittances are sent in cash and kind, 99% are sent by electronic transfers. Most of the remittances in kind and in cash come from documented Mexicans. Undocumented migrants send almost no remittances in cash and kind, since they cannot go back and forth between Mexico and the United States.

Key points

• Key points:
• The report analyzes the evolution and current situation of the means of sending remittances to Mexico. It describes how wire transfers of remittances from the United States to Mexico work, and it discusses remittances in cash and in kind to the country.
• In general, various researchers agree that the Mexicans and Mexican migrants in the United States has greater holding of financial products than the households of their relatives in Mexico. In a study conducted in New York City, 43% of Mexican migrants were found to have a bank account.
• 64% of remittances-receiving households in Mexico are in towns with fewer than 15,000 inhabitants, which makes the possibility of being financially included limited.
• Households of undocumented migrants, who are the relatively most vulnerable group, would hardly benefit from a better peso-for-dollar exchange rate, given that they receive almost no cash remittances.
• If strategies and programs are generated that promote the financial inclusion of households that receive remittances in Mexico, it could be promoted a greater financial stability in these households, greater access to credit, greater investment of resources in productive activities, and greater formality.

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