PNB sustains strong remittance growth

MANILA, Philippines - The remittance business of Philippine National Bank (PNB), one of the country’s largest commercial banks, remains strong, data furnished The STAR showed.

As of end-June 2012, PNB said its remittance volume grew by a substantial 29 percent the same period in 2011.

PNB’s market share in the remittance industry likewise improved to 19 percent for the first half of 2012 from 16 percent in the comparative period last year.

PNB operates 94 overseas offices in 12 countries about half of these offices are located in the United States.

It also has 16 offices in Saudi Arabia, nine in Hong Kong, eight in Canada, four in Italy and two offices each in Japan and Singapore.

PNB also operates offices in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

According to PNB, it has yet to firm up plans to expand further the number of its overseas offices in the near term.

Earlier, PNB was elevated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas into Hall of Fame, having been awarded as Best Commercial Bank Respondent on Overseas Filipino Remittances for three straight years.

In 2009, the bank was likewise conferred the Global Excellence Award as the Most Outstanding Remittance Bank by the Asia-Pacific Awards Council.

In the first six months of 2012, PNB reported a hefty net income of P1.8 billion, 145 percent more than what was posted in the same period in 2011.

In the past months, PNB secured approval from the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and the BSP for its proposed merger with Allied Banking Corp. It is now in the process of securing the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission to complete the merger process.

With PNB as the surviving entity, the merger would result in a new bank that could be ranked as fourth largest in terms of assets, receivables, and domestic branch network.

Once merged, PNB-Allied will also have a combined network of 650 branches and combined total assets of about P514 billion.

The merged bank would likewise have the largest international footprint across the Asia Pacific region, Europe, the Middle East and North America.