The Department of Finance announced its plans to “partially privatize” the Overseas Filipino Bank (OFB) thus, reducing control of the Land Bank of the Philippines by more than 50 percent.
The Department of Finance said it would implement the plan by rolling out a digital banking system for the bank, reported PhilStar.
Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the digital banking system would lead to “less state interference” from the Land Bank of the Philippines, which the OFB is a subsidiary of.
“We just need funds for all these, and we’re looking for assistance in this leapfrogging operation,” Dominguez said.
“This will allow us to partially privatize it in the future. Even bring down the share of LandBank to below 50 percent. These are things we’re looking at,” he added.
Dominguez added that the Department of Finance has sought the help of International Finance Corp. for the digital banking system.
The OFB is the result of President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to create a bank specifically for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
According to Executive Order No. 44, Land Bank is responsible to provide capital for the OFW bank.
Meanwhile, OFW Bank in Abu Dhabi and Dubai will be officially opened in time for President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit in the UAE around July this year.
This was revealed by Alex Buenaventura, Chairman of OFW Bank, during a Facebook live stream interview with Mocha Uson, Assistant Secretary for Social Media of the Presidential Communications Group.
He said that when the OFW Bank’s website is already up in the second quarter of 2018, interested OFWs can also apply through their online platform.
He added that when overseas branches are opened, OFWs can simply go there to open an account.
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