(Eagle News) – The Overseas Filipino Bank is set to launched tomorrow, January 18, ready to provide financial and remittance services tailored to the needs of overseas Filipino workers, according to the Department of Finance
The launch will happen Thursday afternoon at the PostBank Center in Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila.
“We recognize the contribution of our overseas Filipinos to our economic growth we are now enjoying; and related to this, we acknowledge their financial needs,” Roque said in an earlier press briefing in Malacanang.
He said that the OFW Bank was President Duterte’s promise to Filipino communities abroad.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) No. 44 last September, approving the acquisition of the Philippine Postal Savings Bank by the Land Bank of the Philippines and its conversion into OFB.
The launch of the Overseas Filipino Bank came about after the approval by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) for Land Bank of the Philippines to acquire the Philippine Postal Savings Bank (PPSB) last week.
The PPSB will then be converted to the OFB.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that “it’s just a matter of administrative integration of the bank.
“It’s an administrative thing and all the approvals have been cleared away for the acquisition,” Dominguez said.
He said that the DOF is also fulfilling the President’s campaign promise “one by one.”
First, tax reform, then this new bank,” he said.
Dominguez said that besides fulfilling a campaign promise made during the presidential elections, the conversion of PostalBank into the OFB also saved the former from bankruptcy.
-DOF, Landbank to secure licenses in countries with high number of OFWs-
He said the DOF and LandBank are also planning to secure licenses in other countries with large concentrations of overseas Filipinos so the LandBank can provide financial advisory services to the Filipino communities in these areas.
The go-signal given last Jan. 11 by the PCC for LandBank to acquire PostalBank follows the approval last December by the Monetary Board of the acquisition.
In September last year, the President issued Executive Order No. 44 ordering the Philippine Postal Corporation and the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) to transfer their PostalBank shares to LandBank at zero value.
The EO further stated that the former PostalBank will be converted into the “Overseas Filipino Bank,” which will be a “policy bank dedicated to provide financial products and services tailored to the requirement of overseas Filipinos” and will focus on delivering “quality and efficient foreign remittance services.”
-Expanded coverage-
The OFB was previously conceptualized as a bank catering exclusively to the needs of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) but was later expanded by Dominguez to provide services to all foreign-based Filipinos to make it more inclusive, in keeping with the government’s financial inclusion agenda.
According to Dominguez, the OFB will become a subsidiary of LandBank, “the government-owned and -controlled bank with the most extensive branch network that will cater to the needs of the families of foreign-based Filipinos.”
He said a key feature of the OFB will be its provision of remittance service for OFWs and a loan program for Filipinos planning to return here to start businesses or build their homes.
The LandBank and the BTr are also exploring ways of mobilizing the savings of overseas-based Filipinos for them to invest in the country’s capital markets, Dominguez said.
(with a DOF release)