|
THE
Philippine National Bank has taken the opposite view to
the prediction of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that
the flow of remittances from overseas Filipino workers
would soon slow down.
PNB
president Omar Byron Mier said they have prepared for an
increase of more than 16 percent this year. The bank,
which used to dominate the worker remittance business,
expects to pull in between $2.6 billion and $2.8 billion
this year. “Our remittance business is doing well
again.”
Lending
remains the PNB’s main income generator but the
remittance business now lorded over by the Metropolitan
Bank and Trust Co. and the Bank of the Philippine
Islands, is a close second, according to Mier.
The
government expects worker remittances to reach $14
billion this year or about 10 percent more than the
$12.7 billion last year.
In the
first quarter alone, remittances already grew by 24
percent to $3.5 billion, the result of better and more
numerous service providers luring OFWs with very
competitive service charges.
Mier
said PNB’s share of $2.4 billion in remittances last
year was 19 percent of aggregate remittance reported by
the BSP. That expansion was aided in part by two new
wholly owned remittance subsidiaries in Austria and
Spain in addition to the opening of two more bank
branches in
Hong Kong.
In
April, PNB also opened two subsidiary branches in Paris,
France, and in Barcelona, Spain, that brought the total
number of PNB overseas offices to 106.
Mier
said this was the largest global network of branches and
offices among local banks. This network is apart from
remittance tie-ups that PNB has with such firms as the
United Overseas Bank and the Development Bank of
Singapore and its alliance with Mizuho Bank of
Japan. |
