TO better serve the hundreds of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in terms of giving them a fast and efficient money remittance channel to relatives here in the Philippines, state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines introduced the LandBank Cash Card.

Developed in partnership with Smart Communications, the cash card is an alternative for OFWs who wish to send their hard-earned money fast, safe and secure via their mobile phones.

Using the Smart Financial Services Hub, Smart’s mobile commerce platform, the Landbank Cash Card also offers more accessible financial services.

A few years ago, Smart introduced the world’s first electronic wallet card linked to a mobile phone called Smart Money. In 2005, Smart also introduced the world’s first mobile- phone based remittance service called Smart Padala for Filipino migrant workers.

“Through the cash card, LandBank is encouraging the use of mobile-phone based banking services among our OFWs for their added convenience, even as we continue to help promote formal financial institutions as main channels for OFW remittances,” LandBank president and chief executive Gilda Pico said.

Napoleon Nazareno, Smart president and chief executive, said he is proud of the partnership with LandBank. “We are proud to mark yet another milestone for the Smart Financial Services Hub. We are optimistic that this partnership will enable LandBank to reach out to the unbanked and underbanked in the countryside and around the world.”

The service was demonstrated with an actual fund transfer from Bahrain, where a Filipino worker in Bahrain used her mobile phone to send funds to a relative in Manila. The relative then withdrew the remittance at an ATM set up at the venue.

The ATM withdrawal also highlighted how relatives of OFWs who are cash card holders can withdraw money from any LandBank ATM, and over 7,000 affiliate ATMs of Expressnet, Bancnet and Megalink nationwide.

Aside from using the LandBank Cash Card for OFWs for cashless purchases in participating establishments, it will also serve as an ID and welfare card, allowing deductions representing OFWs’ monthly contributions to the Social Security System, PhilHealth and PAG-Ibig Fund.

VISTA Land & Lifescapes Inc., the newly incorporated property holding firm of the MB Villar Group, would list its shares by way of introduction at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on June 25.

RP stocks advance after 4-day slide

PHILIPPINE stocks rose after a four-day slump on the view the decline was excessive. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Ayala Land Inc. led the advance.

AIR Philippines Corp., the budget airline of Lucio Tan, has ordered three Bombardier Q300 turbo-prop aircraft with a list price of $56 million.

TO better serve the hundreds of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in terms of giving them a fast and efficient money remittance channel to relatives here in the Philippines, state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines introduced the LandBank Cash Card.

Republic Act 8799, otherwise known as the Securities Regulation Code (SRC), was enacted in July 2000 to express three essential objectives, specifically: to protect of the investing public; to guarantee or ensure that markets are fair, efficient and transparent; and to minimize systemic risks in the world market.