BDO ties up with UAE’s leading bank: New partnership offers 60-second money transfer service

MANILA, Philippines - BDO Unibank has partnered with Emirates NBD, the leading bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for the latter’s money transfer service called Direct Remit 60 Seconds.

The service was introduced last month to the Philippines and is known as the fastest direct bank transfer service in the UAE. It enables the transfer of Philippine peso to BDO bank accounts in 60 seconds.

Direct Remit 60 Seconds benefits the remittance beneficiaries of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), numbering over 700,000, stationed in the various parts of the UAE region, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

“This is another channel that will bring security and ease to our remitters,” BDO senior vice president for remittance distribution Geneva T. Gloria said.

Gloria described the alliance with Emirates as a good fit because of the resemblance between the two banks. Both are leading industry players in their respective countries and serving a considerable number of Filipino clients.

“Most of their Filipino clients who maintain an account with them are also enrolled in Emirates’ online banking facility. Using this platform, these customers can send money to the Philippines anytime, anywhere and can also pay their bills, insurance premiums or loans payments via their BDO accounts,” she added.

International money transfers, mainly personal remittances, amounted to $22 billion in the first 10 months of 2014, or 6.7 percent higher than remittances in the same period in 2013.

Filipinos deployed to the UAE rank second highest, taking up almost 15 percent of all deployments, behind Saudi Arabia.

BDO, the Philippines’ country’s largest bank, is a leading remittance channel. It provides an extensive range of corporate, commercial and retail banking services that include traditional loan and deposit products, treasury, trust banking, investment banking, private banking, cash management, leasing and finance, remittance, insurance, retail cash cards and credit card services.

It is ranked as the largest bank in terms of total assets, loans, deposits, capital and trust funds under management based on published statements of condition as of Sept. 30, 2014.

Emirates NBD is the leading banking group in the UAE and a product of a merger between Emirates Bank International (EBI) and the National Bank of Dubai (NBD). It is into corporate, retail, private, Islamic and investment banking throughout the region. Its vision is to be globally recognized as the most valued financial services provider based in the Middle East. Emirates NBD is a market leader across core business lines and the leading retail banking franchise, with more than 220 branches and over 885 ATMs and cash deposit machines (CDMs) spread across the country and overseas.