UCPB to cover OFW needs 'all the way'

UCPB to cover OFW needs ‘all the way’

By Jun Vallecera

Reporter

THE United Coconut Planters Bank is putting up an entire unit focused on servicing the requirements of overseas Filipino workers and their families that it believes could triple remittance through its facilities this year to around $400 million. UCPB executive vice president Higinio Macadaeg told reporters the bank generated a total $132 million from remittances last year, a small fraction of the total $12.7 billion remitted to workers’ families last year. “Our strategy is to capture their banking requirements at every stage of an OFW’s employment cycle, from the moment he gets the foreign contract to the time he gets settled in his job and begins sending back money to relatives all the way to the point where they are well off enough to begin building their savings and investments in preparation for retirement,” said Macadaeg. After it achieves its objective of tripling remittance-related revenues this year, the bank aims to sustain annual growth of the remittances through its facilities at 10 percent for at least two years thereafter. Macadaeg said they will launch the unit next month to initially focus in the Middle East, the largest market in terms of volume.

 

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