• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 12 / 21 / 2010

---

Efe: Easing restrictions on remittances, the U.S. Department of Treasury now allows U.S. residents to wire Cuban convertible pesos (CUC) to family members on the island, a Western Union executive told efe.

The new regulation not only allows recipients to pocket more money but is likely to create demand for Cuban pesos in U.S. areas with clusters of Cuban immigrants, such as Miami or New Jersey.

In 2006, the Cuban government reacted to a U.S. crackdown on foreign banks doing U.S. dollar business with Cuba by imposing an 8-percent penalty on the exchange of dollars to Cuban pesos. This made dollar-denominated remittances more expensive and led to under-the-table remittances in CUC. A few weeks later, OFAC — the sanctions enforcement branch of Treasury — issued a circular to licensed forwarders specifically limiting remittances to U.S. dollars, Canadian dollars, Swiss francs, British pounds an euros.

The new regulation by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, effective in December, comes 15 months after the Obama Administration lifted limits on the amount relatives may send to Cuba.

Source: www.cubastandard.com/2010/12/20/efe-u-s-allowing-cuban-peso-remittances/