OFW remittances up
9.5% in first 10 months

OVERSEAS workers sent $6.9 billion back to the Philippines in the first 10 months of the year, up 9.5 percent compared to the same period in 2003, the central bank said Wednesday.
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OFW remittances surge
to $5.5B as of August

REMITTANCES from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) surged by 46 percent in August, bringing the total inflow to $5.5 billion in the first eight months of the year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
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Western Union launches
Gold Card loyalty program

DENVER--Western Union Financial Services Inc., a worldwide leader in money transfer services, offers its customers even more of a reason to send money home through Western Union with the Western Union Gold Card. The Western Union Gold Card is a loyalty program created to reward frequent Western Union customers with a number of valuable benefits and free phone time. It is free to enroll. With the card, customers receive free phone time with every transaction and earn points toward exciting rewards, including service fee reductions, gift cards from major retailers such as Blockbuster, Toys 'R' Us and Sears as well as great merchandise such as cameras and watches. The Western Union Gold Card also acts as a rechargeable phone card.
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OFW remittances down
0.4% in January-May

INCOME remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from January to May came to 3.3 billion dollars, down a marginal 0.4 percent year-on-year, the central bank said. In May, remittances were down 7.4 percent year-on-year at 696 million dollars. Central bank officer-in-charge Alberto Reyes said the drop in remittances was expected to be temporary, citing a number of reasons.
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MoneyGram launches Web
service for money transfers

MINNEAPOLIS, MN--MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc., a leading fund transfer provider in the world, has announced the launch of an Internet service for its money transfers. The new service, called MoneyGram e-Money Transfer, allows consumers to send money transfers through personal computers by simply logging on to www.moneygram.com and debiting their bank accounts or by paying with credit or debit cards. Recipients can then pick up the funds the same day at any of MoneyGram's 68,000 agent locations around the globe.
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Q1 OFW remittances
up 4.3% year-on-year

REMITTANCES from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the first quarter amounted to 1.9 billion dollars, up 4.3 percent from 1.8 billion in the same period last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.
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Xoom expands money
transfer service in RP

SAN FRANCISCO--Xoom Corp. has announced the expansion and improvement of its online remittance services to the Philippines. The company has appointed Manila-based Equitable PCI Bank to service the needs of Xoom's Filipino cash recipients.
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February remittances
up 9.8% year-on-year

REMITTANCES from Filipinos working overseas jumped 9.8 percent year-on-year to 594 million dollars in February, central bank data showed. In the January-February period, remittances totaled 1.2 billion dollars, up 1.3 percent year-on-year.
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RP top destination
for fund transfer firm

ATLANTA-BASED iKobo Inc., which provides international money transfer services through a proprietary online platform, reported last week that the Philippines had pulled ahead as its No. 1 destination for money transfers from the United States. The company has seen a 100-percent growth in dollars transacted between the US and the Philippines for 2003, according to Emeka Ohuche, iKobo co-founder and president.
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OFW remittances up
6.3 %: central bank


REMITTANCES by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rose 6.3 percent from a year earlier to 7.6 billion dollars in 2003, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Thursday. Remittances this year are also expected to rise by 3.0 percent to 7.8 billion dollars compared with 7.6 billion dollars last year and 7.2 billion dollars in 2002, the central bank added.
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RCBC offers Web
remittance service

OVERSEAS Filipino workers (OFWs) may now send remittances to beneficiaries in the Philippines via the Internet through a recently launched product of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Telemoney Direct, the RCBC Internet remittance service, is touted to enable faster remittance by OFWs since they could easily access the service at www.rcbc.com.
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