FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

WASHINGTON – As part of her ongoing leadership in the U.S./Mexico Partnership for Prosperity initiative, U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin today demonstrated one of the new competitive, low-cost ways that people in the United States can send money to family members and friends in Mexico. She did so by sending personal funds to a relative in Mexico City.

The event, hosted by the U.S./Mexico Chamber of Commerce, took place in a Citibank Adams Morgan Financial Center in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The U.S./Mexico Chamber of Commerce selected Citibank as one of several financial institutions including banks and credit unions that are offering competitive, low-cost ways to send money to Mexico. It will be followed by a second event, in Mexico City on May 27, during which Treasurer Marin and her relative will pick up the money.

"This is a very important transaction," said Treasurer Marin. "It happens tens of thousands of times a day in the United States. Last year, over $9.3 billion was sent to Mexico by Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the United States. Average fees, however, are about 20%. That means that of the $9.3 billion dollars sent to Mexico last year, $1.86 billion was eaten up in fees.

"That’s a lot of money, especially, when you think of it in human terms," she said. "Twenty percent of $200 is $40. If we can cut that fee in half, though competition, innovation, and the use financial institutions like banks and credit unions, it will save consumers $20. $20 is a lot of money. It can mean a pair of shoes or a new dress. It can put meat into tortillas instead of just beans. And when you add it up, it means almost $1 billion more into the pockets of Mexicans who need it most."

The U.S./Mexico Partnership for Prosperity initiative – a joint effort created by President George W. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox – seeks to leverage private sector resources to promote development in the parts of Mexico where growth has lagged and fueled migration.

Partnership for Prosperity is working to promote competition among financial institutions offering remittance services. Greater competition will lower the cost to consumers of sending money home to households and regional economies in Mexico that need it most.

Rosario Marin, the highest-ranking Latina in the Bush Administration, was sworn in as the 41^st Treasurer of the United States on Aug. 16, 2001. Born in Mexico City before immigrating to the United States at age 14, Treasurer Marin is the first U.S. Treasurer born outside of the country.