BPI opens representative office in Japan

MANILA, Philippines – Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), the country’s oldest commercial bank, opened on Wednesday, October 29, a representative office in Japan to cater to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sending remittances back home.

Japan ranks 7^th among the top 10 countries of destination of Filipinos in 2012, thus making it one of the top sources of remittances to the Philippines.

Located in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, BPI said its clients can now wire money through its representative office serviced by tellers fluent in English and Filipino.

Roppongi is located in Japan’s special ward of Minato, which hosts 49 embassies where a majority of the expatriate community is located.

“These funds can then be withdrawn from over 2,500 BPI ATMs nationwide with no charge, or through BPI’s network of more than 6,500 accredited outlets, door-to-door delivery, and other easy methods,” Roy Emil Yu, senior vice-president and remittance business division head of BPI Global Markets group, said in the statement.

The Ayala-led bank was recently given an approval by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to establish a representative office in Japan, one of the host countries of OFWs around the world.

“Establishing a representative office in Japan will allow us to provide our hardworking countrymen in Japan easy access to remittance solutions and other BPI services,” Yu added.

BPI partnered with Speed Money Transfer Japan K. K. and Japan Remit Finance for its operations in the eastern Asia country.

“This will also open more doors for BPI for future partnerships in and around the region,” Yu said. – Rappler.com