The government has launched the country’s first “digital-only, first branchless Philippine bank.”
On Facebook (FB), the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) announced: “The national government, spearheaded by the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), has launched the Overseas Filipino Bank (OFBank) as a digital-only, first branchless Philippine government bank that allows clients to complete banking transactions anytime and anywhere across the globe.”
According to the live-streamed video launch material, “layunin ng OFBank ang maghatid ng (the aim of OFBank is to deliver) accessible, convenient and inclusive financial products and services.”
OFBank is a savings bank that is a fully owned subsidiary of LandBank, which uses the Digital Onboarding System with Artificial Intelligence (DOBSAI).
Through a mobile application, overseas Filipinos (OFs), overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their beneficiaries can submit all banking requirements online, including those for account opening.
OFBank offers the Visa Debit Card for OFs and OFWs, and those for beneficiaries, and the OFBank Debit Card for beneficiaries below 18 years old.
All three peso accounts can earn interest for its account holders at no minimum initial deposit, no monthly average daily balance (ADB) and even no dormancy fee.
The OFBank mobile app can perform free fund transfer from the account holder to the beneficiaries’ OFBank and/or LandBank accounts, but interbank fund transfer is subject to a P25 service fee. Jojo Mangahis