Metrobank strengthens remittance business

MANILA, Philippines — Ty-led Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) has partnered with 13 foreign entities to further expand its remittance business in the international market.

Metrobank entered into remittance alliances with Buckzy Payments Inc., Chime Inc. (Sendwave), Finshot Inc., Gmoney Trans Co. Ltd, Japan Remit Finance Co. Ltd, NBL Money Transfer Pte Ltd, and NBL Money Transfer SDN BHD.

It also partnered with Orient Exchange Co. (HK) Ltd., The Commercial Bank of Qatar, Tranglo Pte Ltd, Transferto Mobile Financial Services LTD, Viamericas Corp., and Western Union Network (Canada) Co.

Metrobank’s wholly owned subsidiaries engaged in the remittance business include Metro Remittance (Hong Kong) Ltd., Metro Remittance (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Metro Remittance (UK) Ltd, Metro Remittance (USA) Inc., Metro Remittance (Japan) Co., Ltd, and Metro Remittance (Italia) Spa.

To date, Metrobank has more than 142 remittance partners across 26 countries and territories abroad.

There are 10 million families benefitting from Metrobank’s payroll and remittance services, serving 2.4 million combined accounts monthly.

The remittances facilitated by Metrobank increased by 14.5 percent to $7.9 billion in 2021. This came from 1.9 million unique remitters which supported 3.5 million beneficiaries.

To reach out to Filipinos abroad, Metrobank has five foreign branches located in New York, Taipei, Tokyo, Osaka and Seoul.

In addition to its remittance business, Metrobank also offers other financial services to the Philippine-based beneficiaries of overseas Filipinos and conducts financial literary seminars to Filipinos leaving for work abroad.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas sees OFW remittances growing by four percent this year. Remittances rose by more than five percent last year as more countries hosting Filipino workers eased COVID-19 restrictions.

Dollars sent home by expatriate Filipinos continued to rise for 12 straight months, growing by 2.5 percent in January amid the redeployment of more OFWs.

Last year, personal remittances soared by 5.1 percent to a record $34.88 billion.