This was the claim of Rene J. Buenaventura, Equitable PCI Bank executive vice president and retail banking group head. Buenaventura said that over 240,000 Filipino overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from their foreign jobs in Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also remit their money via Express Padala to their families in the country.
"We have pioneered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia way back in 1982," Buenaventura said.
And through the years, Equitable PCI Bank has nurtured the remittance business and was even blessed with a name – Express Padala – which remains to be the envy of other banks doing their remittance service in the Middle East.
He noted that Equitable PCI Bank has a remittance franchise that is difficult to duplicate.
"We have become the personal intermediary, the friend that brings the other friend over, even taking time out to counsel our kababayans in their personal problems."
The Equitable PCI Bank Express Padala centers are strategically located in the various key growth areas of Saudi Arabia namely: Riyadh, Alkhobar, Jeddah, Damman and Jubail. Likewise, these exclusive centers are mostly manned with Filipino staff.
Moreover, it is seemingly poised to muscle more into markets where they are now considered a leading edge.
"But rather than resting on our laurels, being the dominant force in remittance services, we are projecting a 20-percent increase in our total remittance volume this year, in fact continuing within arms reach of OFWs anywhere in the Middle East market," Buenaventura said in a press statement.