Eurogiro, based in Europe offers several products for payment transfers through the Eurogiro system to accounts of postal members or to the accounts of third party banks. In addition, Eurogiro provides cash and money order services, Western Union urgent cash, cash on delivery, cheque payments and also bulk and pension payments. The Eurogiro postal network uses Tele Money Order (TMO), which is linked to a two-day cash project using Eurogiro bulking principles. Among their products, cash transfers, card payments and direct debits are also popular. In addition to the postal service, Eurogiro connects with banks, other alliances and financial institutions. Sri Lanka's postal service should explore the possibility of partnering with post office members in the remittance originating countries. Issues relating to remittance transfers Despite the promotional activities, institutional arrangements, favourable legal and regulatory framework, improved payment infrastructure, there still remains several un-resolved issues relating to remittance transfers. The lack of awareness of facilities available through formal channels is a prime factor. The absence of, or ineffective links between banks/financial institutions and migrant workers prior to their departure is another factor, which persuade migrant workers to use informal channels. The lack of transparency of full knowledge of the pricing at the point of sale or at the time of delivery of remittances is another important factor that needs to be addressed early by the formal channels.
Contrary to what we saw during the debt crisis of the 1980s, the problems in Asia were not almost exclusively macroeconomic in nature; even if these countries suffered, all of them, from some deficiencies in this respect, by and large they had long track records of successful economic management. Rather, in a context dramatically changed by a major realignment between the dollar and the yen, and important differences in short-term yields, three other factors helped trigger the crisis: • •  the weakness of their public and private banking and financial structures; an unsustainable accumulation of short-term financing - particularly of interbank lending, which Alan Greenspan refers to as the Achilles’ heel of the BIS Review 43/1998  -2-  •  international financial system - which made countries particularly vulnerable to a sudden shift in market sentiment. and, last but not least, deep-seated problems of governance, corruption, and what US commentators call “crony capitalism”. Together with the macroeconomic problems, these three major factors had to be addressed for our response to the crisis to be pertinent. If you examine our programs with Thailand, Korea, and Indonesia, you will see that we have tried to deal with these factors, and they will have to be taken into consideration in the future in whatever efforts are undertaken to avoid the recurrence of crises. But even that will not suffice.