THE US-based financial services provider Wells Fargo has partnered with local lender Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) whose domestic remittance operations is third largest in the country.
Daniel Ayala, head of Well Fargo’s Global Remittance Services operations, told a press briefing the service offers a flat remittance charge of just $5 per transaction regardless of the amount.
The remittance charge compares positively with competitor charges ranging from $7 up to $10 per transaction, some of which have escalating schedules depending on brand name.
According to Ayala, the company’s “good, better and best” policy allows remitters in the US to pay a charge of only $3.50 if one were an account holder and could dispense of the charge altogether if the remitter has a high maintaining balance with Wells Fargo.
He acknowledged the whole point was to help Metrobank, which has the best remittance technology of any bank in the country, capture significantly more of the remittance market down the line.
Richard So, Metrobank senior vice president for international offices and subsidiaries group, said the local lender has around 14 percent of the market at present, the same one seen to end the year in excess of $20 billion.
So said the US market accounted for around 40 percent of total remittances received by the Philippines each year, in large part because of a large community of Filipinos numbering more or less 3.6 million.
According to So, some $5.5 billion worth of remittances originated from the US last year equal to 42 percent of total flows and representing growth 6.5 percent more than the previous year.
Metrobank is still the largest capitalized bank in the country and has a 12-percent market share made possible in part by 580 Metrobank branches plus 194 more branches of the Philippine Savings Bank, the lender’s thrift-banking arm.
“Our goal is to offer a remittance service that is economical, dependable and convenient. Our remittance alliance with Metrobank further enhances our ability to offer just that,” Ayala said.
