BDO Unibank Inc. announced its partnership with a Japanese bank on Monday, which will allow BDO to win accounts of the Japanese firms wanting to set up shop in the country.
The local banking giant said the agreement between BDO and Japan’s third-largest regional bank, Bank of Fukuoka Ltd., designates BDO as BOF’s partner bank in the Philippines to service the needs of its clients should they decide to expand their business or start operations in the country.
“The partnership, sealed through a memorandum of understanding [MOU], is a milestone for BDO as no Japanese Regional Bank [JRB] in the Kyushu region has aligned with any Philippine bank in the past,” the bank said in a statement.
BOF is a regional bank based in Kyushu region, a region accounting for about 10 percent of Japan’s GDP. The Japanese bank has 170 branches and representative offices in Dalian, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and New York.
BDO said the agreement with BOF is a by-product of the previous MOU entered into by BDO with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
This MOU is aimed essentially at promoting the development and strengthening of a framework to support Japanese mid-tier companies, as well as small and medium enterprises through Japanese regional banks.
BDO said they are keen on creating alliances with different Japanese regional banks as these serve as conduits of their clients, which are currently doing business in the Philippines or eyeing the country as their next business hub.