With economic power comes respect. How can we make our OFWs an economic powerhouse? Are we already content that the OFW money sent home has become part of the financial statistics often bannered on news headlines? Can we do more than being a statistical number?
There is a pending Senate Bill aimed at establishing an OFW Bank by collecting money through compulsory contributions from the OFWs through OWWA and use that money to buy and salvage the old, badly managed and losing Postal Bank that has bad assets and bad loans and other questionable liabilities based on the way I understand their 2009 financial report.
And because it is through OWWA and a Senate Bill which becomes a Republic Act, then that implies that their proposed version of an OFW Bank will just be another government controlled and operated corporation run by government-appointed business managers who were not really known for efficient and profitable management of any government corporation! Tapos idadamay pa ang pera ng OFWs para pang-solve sa problema ng Postal Bank na owned, operated and managed ng government appointees din tapos pag nabili na ng OFWs government appointees din ulit ang magpapatakbo?
I don't subscribe to that idea. The senator may have the best intentions but I don't see the light there for the OFWs, masusunog lang ang pera nila. At ang delikado pa niyan, baka gawing bagsakan pa yan ng housing loans applications from low-cost housing na inaabunuhan ng developer ang pang-monthly amortization for the first year just to get off the 1-year buyback requirement and then no more payments for the succeeding years because di naman talaga pala totoong mga paying buyers yun in the first place, so the bank will be saddled with a huge non-performing loans just like what crippled the NHA program, the SSS/GSIS housing program and even PagIbig Fund housing program before.
And these non-performing loans and assets were sold palugi through the SPAV Law where these bad assets were sold at around 70% discount through SPAV. Ang nakinabang dito ay ang SPAV companies that were mostly owned by foreigners like Lehman Brothers noon, etc...nakinabang because after buying them at 70% discount they sell them back to the Filipinos at present market values!
Why buy an old bank with heavy liabilities (mostly non-performing) when in fact the OFWs can even put up an OFW Commercial Bank very easily in as far as
capitalization is concerned, if only the OFWs will realize that they are actually an economic powerhouse.
You see, based on recent OWWA figures, the documented OFWs in 2009 is already at 1.479M and that population is increasing at 14-15% a year so by simple extrapolation the 2010 figure is at least 1.686 million OFWs already and if everybody will just save P500 per month for just 4 months (say from January to April 2011) the OFWs can raise a total of P3.372 Billion capital which is much much more than enough to put up a big OFW COMMERCIAL BANK that is similar to these big commercial banks in the Philippines. The minimum cash capital requirement for a commercial bank per BSP rules is only P2.4B actually.
Ok I can almost hear people saying napakaliit naman noong P500, so let's make it P1,000 savings per month for 4 months that's P6.744B capitalization! And if that OFW Bank with that cash capital will just earn say 12% a year (which is napakaliit masyado if you compare that to industry average figures among commercial banks) then that gives you P809M more money every year.
What happens when the 1.686M OFWs save P1,000 per month from January to December 2011 that will raise some P20.232 Billion initial capitalization by December 2011, napakalaking bangko po ang kayang itayo ng OFWs with that money and that is a real threat to BPI, Metrobank, BDO, PNB, etc.
Why just P500 or P1,000 a month? Para kayang-kaya makasali ang mga maliliit na OFWs kahit yung pinakamababa ang sweldo para may pagkakataong lumaki ang bawat OFW. Of course I know the doctors and nurses and engineers and caregivers and physical therapists and scientists and field experts and other OFWs who receive bigger salaries will be content to save a mere P500 or P1,000 a month as their future investment to an OFW bank siyempre mas malaki yung kaya nilang itabi.
I don't subscribe to that idea. The senator may have the best intentions but I don't see the light there for the OFWs, masusunog lang ang pera nila. At ang delikado pa niyan, baka gawing bagsakan pa yan ng housing loans applications from low-cost housing na inaabunuhan ng developer ang pang-monthly amortization for the first year just to get off the 1-year buyback requirement and then no more payments for the succeeding years because di naman talaga pala totoong mga paying buyers yun in the first place, so the bank will be saddled with a huge non-performing loans just like what crippled the NHA program, the SSS/GSIS housing program and even PagIbig Fund housing program before.
And these non-performing loans and assets were sold palugi through the SPAV Law where these bad assets were sold at around 70% discount through SPAV. Ang nakinabang dito ay ang SPAV companies that were mostly owned by foreigners like Lehman Brothers noon, etc...nakinabang because after buying them at 70% discount they sell them back to the Filipinos at present market values!
Why buy an old bank with heavy liabilities (mostly non-performing) when in fact the OFWs can even put up an OFW Commercial Bank very easily in as far as
capitalization is concerned, if only the OFWs will realize that they are actually an economic powerhouse.
You see, based on recent OWWA figures, the documented OFWs in 2009 is already at 1.479M and that population is increasing at 14-15% a year so by simple extrapolation the 2010 figure is at least 1.686 million OFWs already and if everybody will just save P500 per month for just 4 months (say from January to April 2011) the OFWs can raise a total of P3.372 Billion capital which is much much more than enough to put up a big OFW COMMERCIAL BANK that is similar to these big commercial banks in the Philippines. The minimum cash capital requirement for a commercial bank per BSP rules is only P2.4B actually.
Ok I can almost hear people saying napakaliit naman noong P500, so let's make it P1,000 savings per month for 4 months that's P6.744B capitalization! And if that OFW Bank with that cash capital will just earn say 12% a year (which is napakaliit masyado if you compare that to industry average figures among commercial banks) then that gives you P809M more money every year.
What happens when the 1.686M OFWs save P1,000 per month from January to December 2011 that will raise some P20.232 Billion initial capitalization by December 2011, napakalaking bangko po ang kayang itayo ng OFWs with that money and that is a real threat to BPI, Metrobank, BDO, PNB, etc.
Why just P500 or P1,000 a month? Para kayang-kaya makasali ang mga maliliit na OFWs kahit yung pinakamababa ang sweldo para may pagkakataong lumaki ang bawat OFW. Of course I know the doctors and nurses and engineers and caregivers and physical therapists and scientists and field experts and other OFWs who receive bigger salaries will be content to save a mere P500 or P1,000 a month as their future investment to an OFW bank siyempre mas malaki yung kaya nilang itabi.
So assuming that 30% of our OFWs are in that category and they will save say P5,000 a month instead, that gives us an additional potential capitalization of P24.278B and add that up to your original P20.232B that brings us to P24.3B capitalization by end of December 2011!
Pag may ganun kalaking bangko pwede ka nang mamili ng mas maliliit na bangko na may maraming branch na kumikita ng maganda dahil pag ganun biglang dami na kaagad ng iyong branches na operational and making money na kaagad. Because it actually takes time to get the BSP approval for additional branches, di yan tulad ng sari-sari store na kung kelan at kung saan mo gustong magtayo ng branch ay pwede dahil sariling desisyon mo lang ang masusunod but with banking it's very different because it is a heavily regulated industry.
If you are interested with this idea it might be worth your while to invite other OFWs to also check what you have learned from here and encourage them to contribute their ideas here. Some have already contributed a lot of ideas here, and even their apprehensions and doubts.
Malay natin professional banking executive ka pala dyan sa ibang bansa at gusto mo na sanang umuwi, this might be the best opportunity for you. Or if not, at least you can give some inputs on how to put up that OFW Bank. Initial inputs are published and can be viewed here too. At least I was able to show here that capitalization is not an issue. Katumbas lang po yan ng isang araw nyong merienda yan dyan.
Let's go for that OFW Commercial Bank! Mabuhay!
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ok po ito ituloy alang alang sa mangagagwang pilipino malayo sa pamilya.i am with you kabayan mabuhay ang ofw bank
ReplyDeletesuggestion...
ReplyDeletehow about instead of letting the government shoulder all the capital needed to establish the bank, let us OFW take the bigger part of it and have some say on decision making instead of maging ordinary depositors na lang?
see..we OFW can take 51% of the capital needed, 49% from the government..from OFW part we can easily convince any major bank na nasa Plipinas para tulungan tayo. an OFW mother account should be establish..then every OFW that wanted to contributes for the fund should hold an individual bank account affiliated to that mother account. I knew, medyo mahirap ibenta na magkaroon ng single account para sa pondo..not everybody could be easily convince na the aim of this scheme is for the betterment of all OFW's.
Every individual OFW that wanted to contributes could hold their individual account, dapat na malinaw na nakasaad sa bank deposit application na ang deposited money is nakalaan para sa OFW Bank capitalisation..(some bank has codes for this)..and let it accumulated until the enough budget is reach. yung holding bank na ang nagto-total at nagbibigay na lang ng notices sa mga members kung magkano na ang naiipon, say quarterly or bi-yearly..In case an OFW decided to withdraw their money for whatever reason in the course of accumulation, then, they are free to do so...so di sila kakaba kaba na yung contribution nila is hindi nila hawak at baka mawala.
once the 51% of the capitalization is napag-ipunan na from the pinagsama-samang amount ng contributions then a notice could be send to every account holder or members that the application for government participation is i-a-aplay na (before the establishment of the mother account the government should be already aware on the scheme and just waiting for 51% share contribution from OFW's)..as soon as it is applied for the establishment, every deposited money should be freeze for a year (or whatever agreed period of time) hanggang sa makatayo ang OFW bank at magsimula ng makakuha ng dividend ang bawat member.
ang gobyerno naman madali lang nilang malilikom ang share nila (kung talagang willing silang tulungan ang mga OFW) they could get it from the combined contribution ng mga government agencies i.e OWWA, GSIS, SSS and others (yung ngang SC may untapped daw na budget na 5 billion di naman nagagamit)...
in running the bank, since the OFW's has the bigger share dapat yung mga major decision sa atin manggagaling, as in every partnership of every businesses in the world..government could put their own rep of course but the control should be from OFW. mahirap kasing ang hahawak is from the government wala ring mangyayari as example yung mga agencies na sinabi mo...
i guess this idea need more fine tuning but if maipaparating siguro ang mga idea natin kay VP Binay at kung talagang ang aim niya is for the welfare of OFW's hindi pansarili at hindi politika..at kung merong mag-aayos sa part natin, it may work..
Mabuhay! joseph jose from limerickcity ireland. OFW bank for me is a very good idea. If i may suggest sana ang ofw bank ay walang koneksyon sa owwa(aray)at sa alinmang existing filipino banks, funded and owned by ofws only para walang makikialam na politicorrupt. dapat ihire mga batang bata at matatalinong bankers na pamumunuan ng isa o dalawang foreigner(singaporean banker magaling), bata rin. Bakit naman? Behave at disiplinado ang pilipino kapag nasa foregn setting, at yung foreigner banker ang magpoprovide ng setting na yan. Pinoy banker naman ang magcheckmate sa foreign executive banker para sila ay hindi makautang sa pera natin(yung anglo irish bank nabangkarote dahil mismong yung mga executive directors nito ay umutang sa bangko ng daandaang milyng euros at ininvest sa mga properties na naging bubble na dahilan din ng pagkabangkarote ng ireland). Dapat iresearch ng gobyerno ang mga success stories ng mga bansang may ofw banks at pamarisan.Malaking pera ang nawawala sa atin araw araw dahil sa masyadong mababang interes na ipinapatong ng mga bangko sa pilipinas.kaya SULONG MGA KAPATID! ofw bank itayo! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous: Yes it is for you and for all our unsung heroes and for the prosperity of our nation kaya po namin pinupursigi itong ideyang ito. May God help us and direct us in this effort.
ReplyDeleteTo Daniel Dacillo: Thank you for your profound ideas and suggestions, we will consider them and even improve and polish them to the satisfaction of everyone concerned. Please keep those suggestions coming. But for now, I encourage everybody to start saving money so they will have something to invest when the call is made. Any amount will do because it will depend on the number of common shares or voting stock that one will subscribe and pay up.
It is good to note though that we have VP Binay, Sen. Villar, and some other senators and congressmen on our side but again there should be no government hands dipping into the management & operations and control of the OFW Bank. In fact I still have some reservations about the 49% initial government participation dahil pag may na-appoint na director ang govt na medyo kurap he can wield influence and might even push for the approval of certain shady loans to favor some individuals, at pag nagkataon nako lagot na.
If we can raise the 51% in six months to a year, I would rather suggest that we go for another 6 months to another year to raise the remaining 49% so that it will be totally 100% owned by OFWs with no government participation to worry about.
We will come up with the mechanics on how to handle the money invested by OFWs and how to make it very transparent so that every investor can check online to see how his money is doing, and even see the money trail.
Andy P. who is working as a banker in a big bank in New Zealand has already volunteered to help us come up with an online system that will serve this purpose, secure and transparent. Andy P. is also good in IT. And he volunteered also for love of country.
To joseph jose from limerickcity ireland: I fully agree with your idea about pooling a talent mix (Pinoy + foreign talents) that is actually the setting of Citibank here, and they are also young and idealists. Ganoon po ang gagawin natin, in fact we are eyeing to get some from Citibank Phils & Hongkong, also from HSBC, BPI and BDO, mga magagaling po ito sila.
As with what happened to Anglo Irish Bank which I am aware of because they were in the news lately, their failure was partly due to what we call here as DOSRI Loans, these are mostly unsecured loans granted to DOSRI (Directors, Officers, Stockholders and their Related Interests). Most banks here that failed after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis were due to this DOSRI loan practice (like the Orient bank, Monte de Piedad Bank, and Capitol Development Bank owned by Sen. manny Villar), it's a bad habit of bankers I should say, that's why the Bangko Sentral have come up with a very strong Banking Circular against this practice. The OFW Bank can also come up with a strong regulation or blue book against this practice, and even an early detection system and severe corporate punishment and penalties to discourage anybody (from the Directors and down the line) from doing it. It's good that you raised that point.
Patient is a virtue as we all say...sang-ayon ako sa suggestion mo Bobby na mag hintay at totally ipunin muna ang pondo to 100% without any help from the government.
ReplyDeleteJust to add to Joseph's - there was this Japanese incubator bank that suffer bankruptcy because of the same reasons. Again, it may be redundant to say but we really need OFW's or pilipino young financial talents - people who really have the heart for the betterment of the Philippines...
Hi Jappet, thanks for dropping by at maraming salamat for sharing us your ideas which I fully agree. That's why we need to put up a commercial bank, not a rural bank, because we can never attract the best and idealistic banking professionals with high personal integrity kung rural bank lang po ang meron tayo dahil di kakayanin ang sahod nila pag small bank lang. Aside from the fact that a rural bank has limited potentials. Quality and expertise has a price tag too. Kayang-kaya natin yan with the OFW Commercial Bank.
ReplyDelete