Philippine president Duterte to visit UAE in 2018

He will be launching the newly-opened Overseas Filipino Bank (OF Bank) in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is set to visit the UAE in the second quarter of the year, to launch the newly-opened Overseas Filipino Bank (OF Bank) in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, according to OF Bank chairman Alex Buenaventura.
During his presentation at the command conference on Saturday in Milan, Italy for the heads of Philippine diplomatic posts in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Buenaventura said OF Bank Centers will be rolled out within the second quarter of 2018 in three Philippine foreign offices, including the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Philippine Consulate in Dubai. The meeting was streamed live on Facebook by Esther Margaux Uson, assistant secretary for Social Media of the Presidential Communications Group. 
Duterte inaugurated the OF Bank in Manila last week to fulfil his campaign promise of providing a bank dedicated to millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). The OF Bank is a savings bank of the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).
In September last year, Duterte signed Executive Order No. 44 approving the LBP's acquisition of the Philippine Postal Savings Bank and its conversion into the OF Bank.
The OF Bank, chaired by Buenaventura who is also the LBP president, is expected to offer deposits, loans, investments, remittance, and payment services to address the needs of OFWs as compared to other banks which offer only remittance services to Filipinos residing and working abroad. A remittance service will also be available to allow OFWs to remit money through a mobile credit-to-account system
Aside from Peso ATM savings, time deposit and checking accounts, the OF Bank will also open a credit facility for OFWs and their beneficiaries for construction of their homes and establishment of their own businesses.
OFWs remit billions of dollars to the Philippines every year. According to a report by the Philippine Central Bank, OFW remittances rose by 4.2 per cent to $23.06 billion from January to October last year compared to $22.12 billion in the same period in 2016.
angel@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• Abu Dhabi
• Dubai
• Philippines