I am Gustavo Paiva and recently attended my first ICANN Meeting, at Panama, under the NEXTGEN program. I'd like to add a few points, building upon what Mark W. Datysgeld described in his public comment regarding the "Wire Transfer and Foreign Exchange Fees/Losses" issue and basing myself on what I've observed first-hand in the NEXTGEN62 program. As Mark already mentioned, from a stipend of 500USD what was actually received via the wire transfer was an amount close to 380USD. That was a 24% loss right here, which actually became greater than that since the amount was received in local currency — not USD — which meant it was again eaten up by currency exchange rates. This is not a complex argument. Nearly one fourth of the stipend given by ICANN was wasted, lost to needless expenses completely unrelated to the actual ICANN Meeting. Had Fellows or NEXTGENers wasted their stipend on frivolous expenses that impaired their attendance to the event — such as tourism, we could say — they would at least be frowned upon. And yet we see this flagrant wasteful attitude, nearly incomprehensible from a common sense point of view, that also directly impacts the Fellows' and NEXTGENers' capacity to attend the meeting unimpaired from economical constraints. Just this last meeting there were 15 NEXTGENers. If we assume a 120USD loss per attendant that's 1.800USD already. And if we go by the number mentioned in the Public Comment of 300 community members supported that amount could go upwards to 36.000USD (although, admittedly, it wouldn't get to that since this scale of financial loss seemingly is not a problem elsewhere.) Another point that should be accounted is that the wire transfer is a byzantine process here. Despite submitting their forms early and on time, two NEXTGENers were gravely affected by the huge delays in receiving their stipends. I'll not cite names, but one of them only got her stipend on-site despite being told it would arrive via wire transfer up until the last minute. That person, afraid of arriving at Panama without any money and of possibly not receiving the stipend at all, sold her watch to have a viable amount with her to cover possible emergency expenses. And here you can see an important point: the people receiving this assistance often aren't doing well enough at all to be able to just produce some 200USD for unexpected expenses. Their finances are tight, and the byzantine delays from the wire transfer could have outright made it impossible for them to participate. Another NEXTGENer did not receive his stipend on time, neither did they approve giving it to him on-site. As you might expected he was told he would receive a reimbursement. Perhaps it wouldn't be a problem for many, but this NEXTGENer due to the delay took on a loan to cover possible unexpected expenses. He hoped to return home with the stipend to pay it off, yet last I checked he was still waiting for the transfer — and his loan, naturally, collecting interest. Although my experience wasn't as difficult as theirs, my wire transfer did not arrive on time and I was scheduled to receive it on-site. I took some small savings with me, yet when I arrived at the airport I was informed FCM themselves had outright cancelled my ticket to the Meeting. I was instructed to pay it off myself, that I would later get a reimbursement, but my issue here was that I didn't even have that kind of money — those expenses were gravely over the most overzealous expenses for this trip. My situation was, fortunately, resolved on FCM's side, but my point stands — the very delay behind the wire transfer is a problem by itself, that breeds insecurity, distrust and harms one's capacity to attend a Meeting unhindered. With all of that said, I'd like to support Mark's comment regarding alternatives to the wire transfer. He has given a good list of options. Let's keep in mind this is a simple question of not wasting money, of being financially efficient and in doing so allowing attendants to participate in Meetings without unnecessary hindrances. Gustavo Paiva. July 13 2018.