RESPONDING to requests from a number of clients, Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) said on Tuesday it would launch a reward program for borrowers who make advance payments on all new and existing term loans—the first of its kind in the local industry.

The country’s largest-capitalized thrift bank, a key player in the consumer market, is to offer rebates for advance or excess payments on term loans—those loans that have a specified repayment schedule and a floating interest rate.

THE Bureau of Customs on Tuesday said it is determined to collect billions of pesos of unpaid excise taxes from Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. within the year as the agency needs to achieve its target collection.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said he would not allow any compromise agreement between his agency and Shell, the country’s second largest, for its arrears and penalties that already reached P7.34 billion.

ABOUT 70 percent of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who are largely credited for saving the Philippine economy in this global crisis with their remittances, are unable to save or invest for themselves due to financial-management illiteracy, a study of civic group Atikha Overseas Workers and Communities showed.

This negates the opportunity to harness their remittances for development of the communities, especially the rural areas, through the establishment of social enterprises funded by OFW money, Atikha executive director Mai Añonuevo said.