OFW remittances up 9.4% at $1.4B in March
By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:11:00 05/16/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) through banks surged 9.4 percent to a new monthly record-high of $1.4 billion in March from a year earlier, as the Philippines deployed more workers and banks ramped up their remittance operations, the central bank reported Thursday.
In a separate report, global credit watchdog Moody’s estimated that the major Philippine banks offering remittance services—Allied Banking Corp., Banco de Oro Unibank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine National Bank, and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.—generate 8-17 percent of their operating income from this business. But it warned that banking on overseas Filipinos would be more challenging in the years ahead given changes in technology and host-country regulations.
In a statement, Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. of the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, said the March inflows brought the total first-quarter remittances to $4 billion, up 13.2 percent from the same period last year.
“Remittances during the first three months of 2008 reflected the rising number of Filipinos abroad, the shifts in skill composition as well as the growing efficiency of banks and other financial institutions as remittance channels,” Tetangco said.
In the first quarter, the Philippines deployed 263,129 workers abroad, up 13.6 percent from a the same period last year. Land-based workers increased 11.7 percent to 200,398 and sea-based workers rose 20.1 percent to 62,731.
“Overseas Filipino remittances were also strengthened by additional tie-ups established by domestic banks and other local remittance companies with foreign financial institutions to promote a faster and more efficient delivery of remittances of overseas workers to their beneficiaries,” Tetangco said.
Most of the remittances came from the US, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The central bank expects OFW remittances through the banking system to grow 10 percent this year.
In Moody’s estimate, the direct amount of gross revenue generated by banks from remittances—mainly in delivery charges and the spread charged on foreign exchange rates—may have been between $185 million and $380 million in 2007. With editing by INQUIRER.net
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