BPI remittance business seen hitting $5.5B this year

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-owned Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) expects its remittance level to hit $5.5 billion by the end of the year despite the appreciation of the peso and the slowdown in the economies where their markets are located, a bank official said.

BPI senior vice president for overseas banking group Raul Dimayuga told reporters on the sidelines of the 2012 BPInoy 10 Outstanding Expat Pinoy Chidren awarding ceremonies, that this year’s targeted remittance level would be higher than $5 billion registered in 2011.

Dimayuga said the higher remittance growth was anchored on  optimism that their enhanced efforts to tap the Middle East (ME) market would start to bear fruits.

‘We are sending a lot of marketing officers to ME while we continue to improve efforts in our traditional growth areas in Europe and the United States,” he said.

Dimayuga said through BPI Europe Plc.have put up additional branches in Rome and Milan from two existing branches in London.

He said though there was a noticeable impact of the European crisis on the overall performance of their remittance division, they hope to still post growth this year.

He said BPI has also gone beyond remittance services but also extends savings, provides loans, and investment opportunities to OFW clients.

In its 6th year, BPI has also been honoring exemplary students who are children of overseas Filipinos.

As this developed, BPI president and CEO Aurelio Montinola III said the bank is also planning to raise capital to comply with Basel III global standards early next year.

Montinola said they are currently reviewing their books to determine how much and when they would need to raise new capital.

“We are looking at that. As Basel III would be by 2014, we are still reviewing it. Since the market is favorable for offering, we may go ahead and raise funds earlier than 2014,” he said.

But the BPI chief hinted that if they would be raising capital, they may consider offering shares .

He noted that a few years ago, they have complied with new Tier 1 capital requirements through a stock rights offering.