PHILIPPINES: BSP, banks agree to cut remittance fees

By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN
September 4, 2009, 5:20pm
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Association of Bank Remittance Officers (ABROI) have agreed in principle to reduce fees on fund transfers.

Talks have been ongoing for months now but BSP Deputy Governor Armando L. Suratos said the memorandum of agreement is being finalized for signing by the end of this year.

“There is an agreement in principle with banks to standardize and reduce their back-end processing fees,” Suratos said. “We expect to implement (this) upon signing of the MoA.”

The central bank is encouraging ABROI bank members Banco de Oro Unibank, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Bank of the Philippine Islands, Philippine National Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and China Banking Corp. to course remittances through its Philippine Payments and Settlements Systems (PhilPaSS). BSP cut fees to P5 per transaction as sweetener.Read more