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U.S. Shift on Cuba Remittances Spurring Scramble Among MSBs
By Brian Monroe
printThe Obama administration said Monday that it would lift restrictions on how much money Cuban Americans can send to Cuba, easing financial constraints first established in the 1960s. The policy shift, which was coupled with announcements on rollbacks of restrictions on Cuban travel and telecommunications deals, will allow Cuban Americans to send an unlimited number of remittances to Cuban relatives in households that don't include communist officials, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, in a press briefing. The policy change is likely to triple the amount of money annually remitted to the communist country since 2004, when the Bush...
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The incoming Obama administration is likely to scale back limits on remittances to Cuba imposed by President Bush, a move that would be welcomed by the U.S. financial community, according to bank regulatory specialists.
U.S. and European banks are dropping their direct and correspondent relationships "and any other ties" with Cuba in an effort to protect themselves from any possible fines or actions they anticipate could be levied by U.S. regulators.