【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 roduced in the seminal work of Akerlor and considered in a financial institutions setting by,among others,Santomero, Campbell and Kracaw and Diamond. The significance of asymmetric information,however,is especially important to the continuing relevance of IMTNs because these markets are utilised predominantly by those marginalised consumers,including the poor,who are ignored by formal financial institutions because of heightened uncertainty and risk. As a result,the wider appeal of IMTNs stretches further than being a financial service for marginalised financial services consumers India,for example,it is suggested that 50 percent of national economic activity makes some use of the hawala system. This leads to the conclusion that IMTNs in India and elsewhere are not only used by the poor but also by relatively rich individuals to transfer cash lump sums,or other assets,quickly and relatively cheaply to family members or associates who live some considerable distance away. Two other important reasons which help explain the continuing use and growth of IMTNs by those that would normally have access to the formal financial system are that IMTNs avoid the additional costs that formal institutions bring and,crucially,they circumvent visible paper trails left by formal financial services in the fulfilment of such cash transactions. Interestingly,just as IMTNs have been used innovatively to bypass formal regulation so too have FMTNs been used to avoid potential financial system example,the growth of the eurocurrency markets in the 1960s reflected munistbloc desires to circumvent US influence over their dollar holdings held in the USA. Within IMTNs,the circumvention of formal regulation is executed efficiently due to the informal nature of these works and the important emphasis placed by all involved parties on the role of between the participants in IMTNs is essential to safeguard not only the survival of the system itself,but also to protect its is for this reason that these systems,typically,are operated through a work of closeknit family, professional,regional or ethnic expectedly,such systems flourish in societies that traditionally have a high degree of interdependency in terms of family ties,munity affiliations or a bination of family and business affiliations. A key and highly salient example of how closeknit ties are important to the operations of IMTNs is the case of the Pashtun ethnic group indigenous to the Northwest frontier province of Pakistan and large areas of only does the Pashtun population have a long standing record of involvement in the money transfer 39。business39。 a trade which dove tails conveniently with,indeed may provide a necessary39。 financial39。 service for,the Afghan drugs trade but this trade is facilitated by a large transient Pashtun population living outside the traditional Pashtun tribal areas. Most significantly for current investigations into the international movement of terrorist funds,not only was the Taliban regime anchored firmly on Pashtun support but a large Pashtun ethnic group is found in the key regional financial trading centre of the United Arab Emirates(UAE). In light of these observations,it bees more clear as to why these money transfer works have proven to be popular,indeed convenient, mechanisms for criminal brotherhoods to disseminate39。hot money39。,not least money obtained from drug trafficking,tax evasion and various other types of prescribed activities that fall under the umbrella definition of financial crime a definition which now covers the transfer of39。terrorist39。 funds. A further reason for the growth of IMTNs is that they provide an important socio economic function by channelling provide a rapid,reliable and relatively cheap conduit for, most monly,the homeward channelling by migrant workers of cash the International Labour Organisation(ILO)report,the value of are estimated to equate to the value of remittances transferred through the formal financial short, and over and above the positive social welfare outes which such cash transfers are likely to engender to those individuals and families who receive them,39。remittance flows can have a positive impact on the economy of the migrant39。s country of cient developing countries,the estimated US$73bn which migrant workers remit annually are estimated to provide between39。5 percent [and]25 percent of foreign exchange earnings of labour sending countries39。. Accordingly,and despite the inf