The potential of migrant remittances to foster access to financial services for low-income households has been largely unexplored. Comparing three Latin American countries – the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Mexico – this inter-disciplinary study links research on remittances and microfinance with multi-actor governance approaches. While the context of high remittance-dependence provides similar challenges in all cases, it finds remarkable variety both in the structure of the remittances market and the actors involved in microfinance and in the role governments play. It explains the diverging success of MFIs in remittance markets by pointing to the interplay of for-profit, non-profit and state actors embedded within the specific market structures of each country.