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By Maricel E. Burgonio, Reporter
BANK of the Philippine Islands
(BPI) secured its leading position in the remittance business,
having recorded the biggest volume of transactions last year,
according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
This was the third year in a row
that BPI held the top spot, the BSP said, adding the
Ayala-controlled lender cornered 22.01 percent of total remittance
inflows last year.
Remittances from overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs) coursed through banks reached $14.4 billion
last year, or 13.2 percent higher than in 2006. Remittances
accounted for about 10 percent of the economy, as measured by the
country’s gross domestic product .
Preliminary data from state-run
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showed that deployment
of workers in December grew by 20.8 percent year on year to reach
73,643.
The BSP forecast remittances to
grow by 15 percent to $16.5 billion this year due to continued
demand for Filipino workers abroad and enhanced remittance services
provi-ded by banks and non-bank remit-tance agents.
Trailing BPI was former
top-ranked Philippine National Bank (PNB), whose share of the
remittance market reached 18.25 percent last year.
Omar Mier, PNB president, earlier
said the bank would win back its top position in the next two years
in time for the completion of its integration with Allied Banking
Corp.
Banco de Oro Unibank of the SM
group clinched the third spot, with a 15.21 percent of the market.
Besides deposit accounts, BPI has
been aggressive in promoting consumer loan products to OFWs such as
housing loans as well as investment products.
Last year, the lender reported an
increase in profits on higher non-interest income, which is gained
from its non-lending business. It said consolidated net income grew
11 percent to P10 illion from P9 billion in 2006.
For the first quarter this year,
BPI however suffered a 53-percent drop in earnings to P1.5 billion
owing to a decline in trading income.
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