Tycoon Lucio Tan-led Philippine National Bank (PNB) seeks to build a bigger real estate lending portfolio focused on Filipino-Americans (Fil-Ams) and other US-based consumers as it rides on their increasing appetite to own properties in the Philippines.
PNB, which has the biggest overseas brick-and-mortar footprint among Philippine banks, signed up with New Jersey-based Alexander Anderson Real Estate Group (AAREG) to boost efforts in pitching Philippine-based properties to Fil-Ams in the New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Area.
This is the first of what may be a string of marketing partnerships for PNB’s “own a Philippine home loan” (OPHL) program.
“We are making it easier for them to obtain a good investment while they are still in the US. We see those in the New York metropolitan area remain to be interested in these investments despite the COVID-19 pandemic,” PNB president and CEO Wick Veloso said in a press statement on Friday.
OPHL—which is also being rolled out by PNB’s overseas branches in Los Angeles, Guam, Canada, Europe, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East—also targets foreigners residing and working abroad. Veloso said the bank would focus on New York and Los Angeles for its OPHL program in the United States. “Maybe it will be cumbersome to do it in other states and comply with state regulations,” he said in a text message.
He said there was a growing number of Filipinos interested in acquiring a second home or another home in the Philippines.
About seven out of 10 Fil-Ams are fully employed in the United States, with median household income of $90,400, based on 2019 data. Six out of 10 of them said they owned their homes there.
Meanwhile, remittances from offshore Filipinos remain to be a key driver of the domestic economy. These remittances also continue to drive demand for condominium units in Metro Manila, priced between P1.7 million and P5.99 million.
“Many Filipinos work hard building their careers outside the country and would like to return to their roots. PNB is here to help them acquire their dream home,” Veloso added.