PNB seals strategic tie-up with Western Union

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine National Bank (PNB) has tied up with Western Union, a global leader in fund transfer and payments, for money transfer services spanning 13 countries in three continents.

In a joint statement yesterday, PNB and Western Union said they have entered into an agreement to offer Western Union Money TransferSM services in 311 PNB branches in the Philippines by July 2010 and in 87 offices across 12 countries in a phased approach.

The deal makes PNB, the Philippines’ largest offshore bank network, the first bank to offer Western Union Money TransferSM services in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.

With an extensive urban and rural network in the Philippines, PNB’s global footprint mirrors countries popular with Filipinos working and living permanently. They include Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, Spain, Singapore, United Kingdom and the US.

Bringing together a Philippine icon, PNB, and global leader Western Union in money transfer services with a heritage of 150 years is significant, said Eugene Acevedo, PNB president and CEO.

“It gives our consumers, especially Filipinos the added comfort of familiarity of a home-grown bank to go with Western Union’s values of convenience, reliability and speed when sending money to family and loved ones,” he said.

“Our agreement with Western Union strengthens PNB as the bank of choice for both our local and global customers as we continually enhance the portfolio of financial services offered across our variety of customers.”

He added it reinforces their commitment to their customers and is an important initiative to deliver sustained and enhanced value to shareholders towards PNB’s goal of becoming the leading bank in facilitating in-bound and out-bound money transfer services.

“To add an iconic Filipino bank to our global network of 420,000 agent locations in over 200 countries and territories is of strategic significance – particularly with the Philippines being the fourth largest remittance-receiving country in the world,” said Drina Yue, managing director and senior vice president of Western Union Asia Pacific.

“Offering Western Union Money TransferSM services across PNB locations in three continents reinforce our consumer value propositions of convenient, reliable and fast money transfer services across an unbeatable global network. It also expands our network in the Philippines as well as strengthens our rural presence mirroring PNB’s equally weighted urban and rural footprint,” she said.

All consumers including Filipinos will be able to access PNB to send or receive Western Union Money Transfer transactions in the Philippines or any other part in the world without the need for bank accounts.

PNB is the country’s fifth biggest private commercial bank in terms of assets and deposits as of end-December 2009. Its distribution network is one of the most extensive with 324 domestic branches, 402 ATMs and 108 overseas branches and offices.  

The bank doubled its net income last year to a record P2.2 billion from P1.1 billion in 2008. First quarter 2010 profit was up 22 percent to P889 million. The bank’s leadership position will be bolstered by its planned merger with Allied Banking Corp. which will bring a new set of opportunities including revenue and cost synergies, market expansion and wider domestic and international footprint.

Western Union currently has over 6,800 agent locations in the Philippines which enable consumers to avail money transfer services from as far north as Basco, Batanes, to as far south as Bongao in Tawi-Tawi.