Regulator Probes Money Transfer Companies

The Financial Regulator recently completed a mystery shop exercise in the money transmission business.
The Financial Regulator wanted to confirm that money transmission businesses are charging customers correctly and transparently.
Overall, the findings showed that while money transmission companies are charging according to relevant legislation, there are issues in some firms regarding the transparency of such charges.
Money transmission businesses are required to display foreign exchange rates and charges, and must be as transparent as possible in the information they provide to customers.
30 money transfers were undertaken to 12 countries (Australia, Brazil, China, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Slovak Republic, UK and the US).
The destinations were chosen on the basis of the largest groups of non-Irish nationals resident in Ireland. Individuals were recruited from these countries to carry out actual money transfers in a number of entities providing money transmission services.
Some businesses did not provide adequate information about their charges for sending money. In some cases exchange rates and charges were not provided at the time of the transaction and charges were not published on printed material or displayed on websites.
Where issues were identified, the Financial Regulator has followed up with the relevant institution to make sure appropriate changes are made. It intends to repeat this exercise in the future to monitor compliance.