Bangko Sentral names BDO No. 1 in OFW remittances

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) named SM Group's Banco de Oro Universal Bank as last year's top commercial bank for having the largest share of money sent home by Filipinos abroad as compared to other banks. This was the second straight year the Henry Sy-owned bank held the title. Data showed that BDO cornered 26 percent of total remittances last year. Overseas Filipino workers or OFWs' transferred $17.348 billion last year. Ayala-controlled Bank of the Philippine Islands ranked second after it cornered 24 percent of the remittances, while Philippine National Bank of tobacco and airline magnate Lucio Tan ranked third with a 15 percent share. Metrobank Group of taipan George Ty placed fourth with a 14 percent share followed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. of Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco placed with a 7 percent share. The growth forecast for the money sent home by overseas Filipinos was upgraded to 8 percent from 6 percent this year due to the strong demand for Filipino skilled workers. BSP data showed that OFW remittances went up by 6.6 percent to $5.86 billion in the first four months of the year, from $5.49 billion in the same period last year. Most or 81.4 percent of the total remittances reported by local banks in the first four months came mainly from the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Italy. In June, the BSP's Monetary Board agreed to waive the fees imposed on banks that use the Philippine Payments and Settlements System for six months as part of efforts to bring down the cost of money transfers by OFWs. OFWs and their beneficiaries are expected to pay lower remittance fees with the Philpass remit system going full steam starting this quarter. The system would reduce the charges to P50 for each remittance transaction from the current system charges between P150 and P550 per transaction. OFW families are expected to save at least P92 million to as high as P922 million due to the faster and cheaper delivery of remittances to the beneficiaries at lower rates. —With Jesse Edep/VS, GMANews.TV