Terror funding fears hinder migrant efforts to support family back home

Banks are becoming increasingly reluctant to deal with remittance companies, which migrants use to send money to their families back home, over fears they are being used to fund terrorism.

The fear of possibly helping to fund terrorism has seen some banks become reluctant about dealing with the remittance services migrants use to send money to relatives in their homes countries. Source: AAP

The companies migrants use to send money to their families back home are finding banks increasingly reluctant to deal with them over fears the businesses are being used to support terrorisim.

It is common practice for migrants in Australia to regularly send money to relatives still living in their homeland to help them cover essentials like food, clothing, medicine and electricity.

It is particularly important at Christmas time when migrants like Elena Le Vido, originally from the Philippines, try to send home a bit extra.

"I send the other day for their food...for rice, medication [for] my mum, for them to enjoy Christmas," she told SBS News. 

Ms Le Vido's family's homes were destroyed in Typhoon Ruby in 2014, and even before it hit she had been supporting her mother, five brothers and sister and 16 nieces and nephews, sending them money almost fortnightly.

"A typhoon wipe out my brothers' houses and my mum and I am rebuilding them," she said.

Fellow remittance customer Ma Davinia said she often sent more money home at Christmas time, "Because I want them to be happy like me".

The Philippines is the third largest recipient of remittance after India and China.

But remittance company director Enrique Campos told SBS News it was becoming harder for the industry to provide the services people like Ms Le Vido rely on with banks concerned about covert terrorism funding.

"To send money to the Philippines we need the bank and some banks have decided they don't want to deal with remittance companies," he said.

"We're OK but there's a lot of good companies, smaller companies that have closed completely [because banks would not deal with them]."

There are calls for regulators to work with their international counterparts to ensure remittance services do not become a thing of the past.

Ms Le Vido said there were other options she could use to transfer money, but they often had higher fees and took longer for the money to be delivered.