Ashley, a Haitian-born resident, has trouble explaining exactly how he sends the wages he earns as a gardner back to his native country.  But with choppy English, he said: "no bank".
"If you want money go to Haiti," he explains, "you send with someone who go back."

He's not alone.  The majority of the illegal Haitian community - estimated to be well above 20,000 - are said to use these informal courier services.  Remittances are quite common to life in Haiti.  In fact, money sent to Haiti from around the world contributes to 26 percent of the country's GDP, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), or about $1.5 billion.  More than a third of the country´s adults receive regular remittance payments, mostly from family members in the United States.

While their reasons may vary, there appears to be one common thread as to why Haitians in The Bahamas tend to avoid official channels, such as banks and mainstream money-transfer companies.  "They are intimidated," explains Harvey Morris, the Chief Executive Officer of Omni Money Transfer.

"The migrants will not cross the floor of the ivory tower to go and send their $200 or $300.  We have a significant illegal migrant population here.  It's a huge market and it's thriving.  They cannot send through the banks because they need proper ID.  So, they use the underground money transfer."

And therein begins the issue.  According to several well-placed sources in the industry, intelligence gathered over recent years has uncovered considerable money transfers among the illegal migrant population, which could amount to millions of dollars in lost revenue for financial institutions in The Bahamas.

The money is reportedly collected by a person who either will complete the transaction for them in a legitimate facility or - more concerning - carry the money back to Haiti with them during a visit.  Similar to businesses such as Omni or Western Union, these persons charge fees - sometimes well above the standard rate.

"Generally there is a charge of about 20 percent to send the money through the underground market," Morris explained.  "And they only use U.S. currency."  Christoph Fox, his operations manager, said most Haitians have little choice.  "They have no option really other than to find someone who is legal to send on their behalf," said Fox.  "But whereas we charge $12 to send $100, they charge $20 for every hundred.  And we're on a tier level, so sending $200 doesn't mean you're going to pay $24, you'll pay $15.  So if you send $1,000 [through these unofficial channels] thats $200."

It's apparently a fee many are willing to pay in order to remain undetected.  Morris readily admits it's hard to place an estimate of how large the problem is, given the nature of the business and a still undetermined illegal migrant population.  However, he estimates as much as 50 percent of his company's revenue is not being maximized because of this informal practice.

"We got a report from the Inter-American Development Bank in 2009, saying $66 million was sent to Haiti from The Bahamas," he said.  "They did a survey on the receiving side.  We wrote the Central Bank and [asked] do you have the numbers and can you validate this?  I estimated that about one-third of that may have gone through the legal system and two-thirds went through the illegal system."

In response to the rise of unauthorized money transfers, however, Morris and others have approached the Central Bank with proposals to relax some of the regulations controlling how money is sent in and out of the country.  Many of them believe the situation is now over-regulated and is in desperate need of change in order to better the situation.  They argue a relaxation in the laws will help with quantifying the illegal migrant population here in The Bahamas, allowing for a more effective tracking system to determine where the money is going and to whom it is being sent.

The move would be one similar to what is now being done in the U.S., where senders transferring funds to Mexico under a certain limit are not required to present identification.
According to Morris, the Central Bank has been unwilling to modify its policy.  Guardian Business attempted to obtain a comment from Wendy Craigg, the Central Bank Governor, but was unsuccessful up until press time.

Still, Fox makes the case that not only would relaxing the system better help businesses in the country, it would also help the government.  "We need to allow everyone to send, legal or illegal," he said.  "What they have to recognize is it's being sent now and we cannot tax it, so only the persons who are exploiting them are reaping the benefits."

One governmental source, who preferred to remain anonymous, reported several incidences where illegal migrants have been taken advantage of by persons they trusted to send money to their families in Haiti.  "They say, 'I want to send money to my parents or a family member,' and a person will say I can do it for you," said the insider.  "That's the way they have been abused from time to time because people send money and the money never gets there.

"And the [courier] says, 'well report me to the police', but they cannot go to officials because they don't have their papers.  Everybody is taking advantage of Haitians here."  It's something Morris hopes will change soon.  "We've gotten a lot of intelligence on it, but it's very difficult to say exactly how large the underground market is," he added.  "This needs to change. . .and we hope to facilitate better record keeping."

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian