Vansibel

In a previous post I discussed various options that people use to send money and remittances to their family. The primary method that is used is Western Union, though more and more people have been considering Paypal due to their extensive advertising campaigns attempting to become a popular choice for remittences.

When you send money through Paypal, Paypal reviews the transaction to determine whether or not they think that its legitimate. If its going to an old account that has been around for years, in most cases they assume its good and let it go through. However, if the recipient is a new user, they often place excessive holds on the funds, resulting in huge delays. The average delay is 180 days, because Paypal feels that 6 months is an appropriate amount of time for people to wait.

Is it an appropriate amount of time to wait? Of course not. If your relatives are expecting to receive a payment, they don’t expect to wait 6 months for it, while still paying Paypal’s ridiculous fees. Whats worse, Paypal often then makes ridiculous demands for ID and other personal information. If you fail to provide that information within a few days, they permanently freeze your account and seize your funds.

To read more about how Paypal scams their customers, I recommend reading an excellent post on a blog that we frequently read: http://prevent-id-theft.org/?p=59

So before you consider using Paypal to send funds to family or friends, be sure that you’re aware that they’ll likely never receive them!

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The International Monetary Fund is considering only two candidates to replace resigned Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

The shortlisted candidates are French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Mexican Central Bank Governor Agustin Carstens.

Lagarde, the frontrunner, has been making the rounds of developing nations such as India and China in a bid to convince them to vote in her favor. On Monday, it was Carstens’ turn to lobby.

Carstens warned Washington that if Lagarde would be appointed as IMF chief, the fund could face a conflict of interest.

The central bank governor said at a speech before the Peterson Institute for International Economics that the IMF would be perceived as protecting the interests only of European if the fund still lives by a six-decade old backroom agreement that the top IMF post to a European and the leadership of the World Bank to an American.

Carstens told the audience – which includes IMF board members, U.S. government officials and known economists – that the IMF has to work harder to maintain its credibility with developing nations. He said making a European the IMF’s head at this point would create doubt among emerging economies because Europe is apparently weak in overseeing the economies of its member-nations.

He cited as proof the recent IMF loans to Greece, Ireland and Portugal, which were the largest in the fund’s history. This situation, he added, is an indicator that Europeans continue to dominate the IMF, which would be worsened with Lagarde’s appointment as replacement for Strauss-Kahn, who is battling sexual assault charges in New York.

Carstens acknowledged that Lagarde’s chances of clinching the top IMF post are high. He said what his candidacy provides is an option for developing economies to have more say in international bodies such as the IMF.

With the shortlisting of the two, the IMF executive board will soon meet Carstens and Lagarde in Washington, discuss the strengths of two and announce the new IMF managing director by June 30.

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Almaty, Kazakhstan (AHN) – The Kazakhstan candidate for the vacant position of managing director at the International Monetary Fund may soon back out of the race.

The reason National Bank of Kazakhstan head Grigon Marchenko cited is the lopsided battle in favor of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

Lagarde is the top favorite to replace former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. She has the backing of the majority of European nations and possibly the U.S. too to maintain a five-decade old gentleman’s agreement that a European hold the top IMF job and an American the top job at World Bank.

The banker pointed to Strauss-Kahn’s bid to run for the presidency in France as the time that G8 members decided to back Lagarde, whose appointment to the top IMF post is considered almost a done deal.

Marchenko opined that G8 countries – which control over 60 percent of the IMF board votes – have decided to support Lagarde even before Strauss-Kahn was forced to resign over a sexual assault charge filed last month by a hotel maid.

Marchenko, an economist who studied at Georgetown University in the U.S., said despite the lopsided race, the Kazakh government would still pursue consultations with other countries over his nomination. The nomination process ends June 10.

Lagarde, to further improve her chance of replacing Strauss-Kahn, even courted the votes of emerging economies such as India and China to weaken the European versus developing countries’ war for the top IMF post.

The battle to replace Strauss-Kahn had practically been reduced to a choice between Lagarde and Mexican Central Bank Governor Agustin Carstens, who is seen as the representative of emerging and developing economies.

Former Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States representatives picked Marchenkko as their candidate in a meeting held in May. They selected someone from Kazakhstan because the former Soviet union member is perceived as a neutral nation on account of its geographical location, which is between Russia and China.

Although the attention of the finance community is on the IMF selection process, reports surfaced on Thursday that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is being considered to be the next president of the World Bank.

The present World Bank President Robert Zoellick’s term will end middle of next year. His replacement must secure the approval by 187 member countries of the World Bank.

Clinton’s staff denied the report that the secretary allegedly talked with White House over plans to quit her post for the World Bank job.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke whether regulators have gone too far by reining in the U.S. banking system and are slowing economic growth.

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GM executives have discussed buying shares from the Treasury Dept. to reduce the government’s 33 percent stake in the automaker

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MetLife Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, said it’s weighing acquisitions in Latin America as ING Groep NV considers selling its business in the region.

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Asian stocks swung between gains and losses after reports showed consumer spending in the U.S. increased less than economists’ estimates and sales of previously owned homes fell. Newcrest Mining Ltd. gained as gold prices rose.

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Most Asian stocks dropped, with the regional benchmark index set for its longest streak of weekly losses in two years, after reports showed the U.S. economy grew at a slower rate than forecast and jobless claims unexpectedly rose, reducing the earnings outlook for Asian exporters.

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ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial services company, received a bid for Latin American insurance assets from a group that includes Chile’s Luksic family and Mexico’s Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB, said a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

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The use of national demographics to determine if a company is complying with employment equity requirements will probably be removed from proposed amendments to legislation.

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