The Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) is the state-owned digital-only, branchless

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts 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 markets. Because ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. 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 was established after World War II in 1947 on the government's effort through its mandate to rebuild the country's war to ...

), and is the 16th largest

thrift bank A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. The terms "S&L" or "thrift" are mainly used in the United States; simi ...

s in terms of assets. Its services are catered to the needs of

Overseas Filipinos An overseas Filipino ( fil, Pilipino sa ibayong-dagat) is a person of full or partial Filipino origin—i.e., people who trace back their ancestry to the Philippines but living or residing outside the country. This term generally applies to ...

(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 be ...

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

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of LandBank.

History

Established as Philippine Postal Savings Bank in 1906, 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 be ...

No. 7354, the charter of the

Philippine Postal Corporation The Philippine Postal Corporation ( fil, Korporasyong Pangkoreo ng Pilipinas), abbreviated as PHLPost and also known as the Philippine Post Office, is a government-owned and controlled corporation responsible for providing postal services in t ...

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

PhilPost The Philippine Postal Corporation ( fil, Korporasyong Pangkoreo ng Pilipinas), abbreviated as PHLPost and also known as the Philippine Post Office, is a government-owned and controlled corporation responsible for providing postal services in th ...

. 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 be ...

(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 July 3, 1993, pursuant to the provision of Republic Act 7653 or the New Central Bank Act ...

(BSP), the Philippines'

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

, 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. 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

References

External links

* {{authority control Banks of the Philippines Postal system of the Philippines Companies based in Manila Government-owned and controlled corporations of the Philippines Overseas Filipino Worker Postal savings system

History

See also

References

External links