The Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) is the

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

digital-only, branchless

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Formerly known as the Philippine Postal Savings Bank (PPSB) or PostBank, it is the smallest of the Philippines' three state-owned banks (the others being

Land Bank of the Philippines Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), often referred to simply as LandBank, is a government-owned bank in the Philippines with a special focus on serving the needs of farmers and fishermen. While it provides the services of a universal bank, it ...

and

Development Bank of the Philippines The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) is a state-owned development bank headquartered in Makati, Philippines. It is primarily tasked to provide banking services to cater to the needs of agricultural and industrial enterprises. It has 1 ...

), and is the 16th largest thrift banks in terms of assets. Its services are catered to the needs of

Overseas Filipinos An overseas Filipino () is a person of full or partial Filipino origin who trace their ancestry back to the Philippines but are living and working outside of the country. This term generally applies to both people of Filipino ancestry and cit ...

(OFs),

Overseas Filipino Worker Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million ...

(OFWs), and their families or beneficiaries. Since 2018, it has been a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of LandBank.

History

The Overseas Filipino Bank was established as Philippine Postal Savings Bank in 1906. Governor-General of the Philippines,

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

, commissioned a report in 1903 to consider the advisability of establishing the bank. The report was submitted to the

Philippine Commission The Philippine Commission was the name of two bodies, both appointed by the president of the United States, to assist with governing the Philippines. The First Philippine Commission, also known as the Schurman Commission, was appointed by Pre ...

in 1904, which subsequently recommended the establishment of the bank. Legislation to create the bank was passed by the Philippine Commission on May 24, 1906. The bank followed the model of similar banks in British colonies. The bank was closed in 1976 as a result of competition with privately owned banks, but was reopened in 1994 pursuant to the provisions of

Republic Act This article contains a partial list of Philippine laws. Sources of Philippine laws ;Notes : *Customs may be considered as supplementary source of law, however, customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not ...

No. 7354, the charter of the

Philippine Postal Corporation The Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost; ), also known as the Philippine Post Office, is a government-owned and controlled corporation under the Office of the President of the Philippines, Office of the President, responsible for providing m ...

. In 2013, the bank rebranded its operations as "Postbank". Despite the legal affiliation, the PPSB is governed separately from PhilPost. On November 16, 2016,

announced plans to acquire Postbank and reorganize the thrift bank to be a lending bank for the

Overseas Filipino Workers Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million ...

(OFWs) and their families. President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order No. 44 in September 2017 which mandates the

and the Bureau of the Treasury their PostBank shares to Land Bank at zero value. The edict also states that PostBank will be converted to the "Overseas Filipino Bank". The Monetary Board of the

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (; commonly abbreviated as BSP in both Filipino and English) is the central bank of the Philippines. It was established on January 3, 1949, and then re-established on July 3, 1993 pursuant to the provision of Re ...

(BSP), the Philippines'

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

, approved Land Bank's acquisition of PostBank in December 2017 while the

Philippine Competition Commission The Philippine Competition Commission (PhCC) is an independent, quasi-judicial body formed to implement the Philippine Competition Act (Republic Act No. 10667). The PhCC aims to promote and maintain market competition within the Philippines by ...

authorized Land Bank to acquire PostBank on January 11, 2018. The bank was inaugurated as the Overseas Filipino Bank at the Postbank Center by President Duterte on January 17, 2018. On June 29, 2020, Land Bank of the Philippines virtually launched the Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) which aims to help Filipinos employed abroad to send money back to the Philippines faster. The virtual launch includes the presentation of OFBank’s new offerings such as digital accounts opening platform catering to OFWs, other

(OFs), and their families or beneficiaries, as well as the improved website and official Facebook page. As it is a digital-only bank, OFWs and their beneficiaries can just submit all requirements online through OFBank's mobile app. Santa Cruz Metro Manila 40

OFBank initially after its launch operated as a "digital-centric" bank using its license to operate as a thrift bank. It transitioned to a fully digital bank after it was given a license to operate as a digital-only bank on March 25, 2021, by the BSP's Monetary Board. OFBank became the first authorized digital-only bank in the

Leadership

Board of Directors

* Chairman: Ma. Lynette V. Ortiz * Vice-Chairman: Randolph L. Montesa * Members: ** Alan V. Bornas ** Bituin V. Salcedo ** Robert L. Gosioco ** Leticia V. Damasco ** Alex A. Lorayes ** Atty. Roderick P. Sacro * Board Secretary: Atty. Jettmar Aswige Taliping

Management Team

* Randolph L. Montesa -

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

* Pacifico C. De Paz Jr. - Vice President, Technology Management Unit * Mary C. Calacasan - Head, Administrative Services Unit * Maria Chona P. Gregorio - Central Point of Contact & Treasurer (Seconded from LANDBANK) * Joanna C. Sangrador - Head, Electronic Business Unit * Patricia P. Madrio - Head, Financial Management Unit Other LANDBANK Seconded Personnel: * Jose Aryiel G. Castor - Relationship Officer * Romelita M. Atienza - Technical Assistant to the President & CEO * Christine Anne N. Salapare - Senior Administrative Specialist

References

External links