The World Bank estimates that recorded remittances by some 200 million migrants from developing countries reached $ 283 billion in 2008, up from $ 265 billion in 2007, while unrecorded flows through informal channels could even be higher. As a share of GDP, remittances constitute about 2% of GDP.
The Federal Reserve and other U.S. agencies have, for many years, worked with international counterparts to limit the difficulty and burden that have arisen as foreign banks have entered U.S. markets and as U.S. banks have established operations in other jurisdictions.