Remittance providers reprieved until Friday

Australian remittance providers have won a reprieve in their battle to stay in business.

Westpac confirmed it has consented to temporary orders made in the Federal Court following a hearing on Friday afternoon.

A group of 20 remitters joined forces to apply for the injunction, with Sydney Forex taking the role of lead applicant.

Westpac, the last bank active in this sector, had said it would close remitter accounts as of yesterday but it will now voluntarily keep the accounts open until the matter can be heard later this week.

The new service Accelus Compliance Complete reported yesterday that industry figures said the bank was unpersuaded by appeals from businesses in the sector or the efforts of an Inter-Department Committee that included representatives from the Attorney-General's Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Treasury and AUSTRAC.

Australian banks have taken the view that the remittance sector is simply too high risk, regardless of the level of compliance that individual organisations have achieved.

Last week the remitters met with representatives from the Attorney-General's Department, AUSTRAC, the Australian Crime Commission, ASIC, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The government had made a commitment to broker further discussions between the Australian Remittance and Currency Providers Association and the country's major banks to find a short-term resolution.

Late last week remittance industry figures said that window had now closed without reaching a resolution with the country's major banks.

Remitters said this meant that more than six million Australians from immigrant communities would lose the ability to send funds to family members overseas cheaply and securely, while key Australian law enforcement agencies would also lose access to valuable intelligence on offshore money flows.

Steven Narayan, general manager of FexCo Pacific in Suva, the largest Western Union money transfer provider in the Pacific, said they had faced the same problem that their counterparts in Australia are facing.