BDO/BPI: OFW bank savings could reach $2.6-B in 2010

Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO) and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) — two of the country's biggest handlers of remittances — believe that as much as $2.6 billion could be saved by overseas Filipinos this year instead of spending all this amount for consumer goods. BPI executive vice president Tessie Tan has derived this amount based on this year's remittance forecast of the World Bank ($21 billion) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ($19 billion). "The difference [between the World Bank and the BSP's forecast this year] represents what the overseas Filipinos invest," Tan said. Ismael Estela Jr., BDO senior vice president, shared the same sentiment with Tan, saying that some 40,000 new BDO clients, mostly overseas Filipinos or their families, open savings accounts with them every month. These are the people BDO asks to open bank accounts as part of their pre-departure orientation seminars. Estela said that these new bank accounts normally start at only P100 but nearly all of them increase in value over time, particularly those based in European and Middle Eastern cities. He said that these bank accounts were opened to service the monthly amortization of the real estate loans the overseas Filipinos took while they work abroad. -- JE/OMG, GMANews.TV