While it offers remittance products at its bank branches, it is also running 130 Cash Express check-cashing outlets as an inexpensive market-entry point.

FORBES: Show Me the Dinero

Thirty-three of the 48 American banks that offer international remittance services are in the mid-west, and America's bank regulators are encouraging the efforts.

ECONOMIST: Immigration

Operators, known as hawaladars, pool remittance cash with funds from their other businesses and deposit them into traditional bank accounts or dollar-denominated accounts in Dubai or other financial centers.

FORBES: Magazine Article