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| By Jun Vallecera |
| Reporter |
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| STATE-OWNED Development Bank of the DBP chairman Patricia Sto. Tomas bared the plan in a briefing on Tuesday as part of a bigger plan bringing about more opportunities to still more Filipinos down the line. “We intend to go into financial advisory services for those who can least afford it such as the OFWs, government employees and such other groups as may demand or require it,” Sto. Tomas, former labor secretary and civil service chief, said. No timetable was set but it comes at a time when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is devising ways to encourage millions of OFW to invest a portion of their earnings in hopes of tapping the economic multiplier those funds have yet to yield. Only recently, DBP opened a Hong Kong remittance unit whose four-month operations in 2006 handled a total $1.268 million thus far. The bank is looking at ties with banks in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe as its remittance business expands over time. “Many Filipinos do not really know what to do with their extra cash. The board realized there must be a better way of using resources one did not expect. We want to give honest-to-goodness advice to people who don’t know what to do with unexpected money,” Sto. Tomas said. But while the mechanism was not yet in place, she was sure one should be ready “before the end of the first half this year.” DBP president Rey G. David also reported net income of P3.7 billion for 2006, 16 percent higher than previous. He expects the bank to earn a lesser amount this year, in part because of continued benign lending across the industry and because of increased competition. DBP’s loan portfolio totaled P79.49 billion at end-2006, the bulk of which, or P66.14 billion, was set aside for development projects. Its assets stood at P212.89 billion or a little over 10 percent higher even as nonperforming loans dipped 66 percent to P3.01 billion from P8.9 billion. |
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/02222007/headlines06.html
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