New remittance centers up in California, Macau

Filipinos in California, USA and Macau, China will soon find it much easier to send money to their relatives in the Philippines. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has approved the application of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank) to set up remittance centers in California and Macau. Metrobank executive vice president Carmelita Araneta said the establishment of the two remittance subsidiaries is in line with the bank’s thrust to increase its global presence and extend its remittance services to more OFW communities abroad. The Macau Remittance Center is the latest addition to Metrobank’s network of 11 remittances offices in the Asian region, an area where Metrobank enjoys a significant share of remittances business over other Philippine banks. “Macau is an expanding economy that is attracting a large overseas worker population," Araneta observed. The Metro Remittance Center, Inc. in California will serve OFWs based in Los Angeles and in San Francisco. “California has always been a strong market which we are going to pay more attention to," Araneta said. “Having a remittance company license will not allow us to expand our coverage in the US more aggressively," she added. Recent data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that Filipino-Americans are the highest remitters of US dollars in the Philippines owing to higher average income per household. Presently, Metrobank has nine branches abroad, 23 remittances offices, 37 remittance tie-ups, and more than a thousand correspondent banks. It has strong presence in the United States, Canada, the Middle East, Taiwan, Shanghai, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain and Austria. In 2006, Metrobank said it has captured 22 percent share of the lucrative remittance business owing to its highly successful Super Bilis Padala project. The bank has also launched World Cash Card, a free automated teller machine (ATM) card that allows remittance beneficiaries access to remittance funds at over 700 Metrobank ATMs and more than 4,000 BancNet and Megalink terminals across the Philippines. The ATM card is affiliated with Cirrus Maestro to enable overseas Filipinos to use it to withdraw cash in any part of the world. - GMANews.TV