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THE
Monetary Board (MB) has approved more services that have
been applied for by Land Bank of the
Philippines
which are aimed at improving services for overseas
Filipinos, and by Ayala-owned Bank of the Philippine
Islands (BPI) and its subsidiaries.
Bangko
Sentral Deputy Governor Armando Suratos said Friday the
board also approved the quasibanking application of
Sterling Bank of Asia, a new industry player established
last year.
Suratos
said the board approved the application of BPI and
subsidiaries BPI Direct Savings Bank and BPI Family
Savings Bank to have an online foreign-exchange facility
and Express Cash.
He added
that the board also approved a number of new online
services applied for by state-owned LandBank, most of
which are geared toward getting more remittances from
Filipinos working abroad.
Suratos
said LandBank wants to offer the services such as
we-Access, i-corp viewing facility, phone access, i-easy
padala, and e-payment system.
He said
that these services also aimed at the bank’s broader
clientele.
In
we-access services, the client can view and print
account statements and also transfer funds for peso
accounts; for current account holders, the client can
access check status inquiry and check reorder. It will
also allow the client online collection reports,
especially for those clients who have payroll accounts.
Phone
access allows customers of LandBank to do banking over
the phone such as check inquiry, check status inquiry,
return check inquiry and reporting of lost or stolen
automated teller machine cards, among others.
I-easy
padala enables clients to perform inward remittance
transactions through a Web-based application. Services
available through this new service include Internet wire
transfers, automated clearinghouse transfers, cheque
remittances, wholesale remittances, domestic payroll
payments and settlement of direct wires, he said.
“The
system can be accessed by overseas Filipinos and other
remitters anywhere in the world. This service can be
offered to manning agencies in the Philippines,” Suratos
said.
With the
new service, a Filipino working abroad only has to go to
the overseas remitting, correspondent or depository bank
of LandBank to remit money anywhere in the country.
Sterling
Bank of Asia is a new savings bank established in
February 2007 in response to the government’s mandate to
create specialized financial institutions to support the
development and growth of the small-and- medium
enterprise sector.
The bank
is mainly owned by the JTKC Group of Companies, Surewell
Equities, and Star Equities.
BPI, on
the other hand, is one of the country’s biggest by
assets. It has 895 traditional branches across the
country, including 211 express banking centers.
LandBank
has a dual function
of a commercial bank while promoting countryside
development. It said that the profits derived from its
commercial-banking operations are used to finance the
bank’s developmental programs and initiatives. V.
G. Cabuag |
