Eurogiro News
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Eurogiro CEO Commentary
Eurogiro celebrates its 20th anniversary
During 2013 Eurogiro will be celebrating
its 20th anniversary, as you will see from
articles in this issue of Eurogiro News.
As you may be aware, Eurogiro was es-
tablished on 5 February 1993 by 14 postal
organisations. In this issue of the Eurogiro
News we are bringing you an interview with
our Chairman of the Board, Ms Sylvie Solig-
nac, from La Banque Postale in France,
who was part of the Eurogiro community
when it started 20 years ago. I am sure you
will find it interesting to read her views on
Eurogiro, both from its beginnings and into
the future.
Originating from the postal world, Eurogiro
today embraces financial institutions of
many kinds as members within its network
- posts, post banks, small and large banks,
as well as other payment service providers.
In addition to the interview with Sylvie
Solignac, you will find various articles
Landbank to launch expanded remittance services
In time for the celebration of its 50th founding anniversary during 2013, the Landbank of the Philippines
will be launching its Landbank Remittance System (LBRS) which will expand and improve its remittance
services for Overseas Filipinos and foreign clients for fund transfer transactions to the Philippines
“Our countrymen who are living in various
parts of the world deserve a fast, reliable
and cost-efficient international fund transfer
system. Landbank, as a government bank,
recognises the remarkable contribution of
Overseas Filipinos to the Philippine economy
and the least we could do to repay their
heroic role is to ensure that they have access
to our services wherever they may be. This
is where the Eurogiro community becomes
an essential part of the equation as we try
to explore additional means of using the
network of post offices and member-banks
as walk-in counters for these transfers”, says
Roberto S. Vergara, First Vice President of
the OFW Remittance Group. With the Bank’s
new system, Landbank clients, including
Landbank’s Eurogiro partners, will be given
more fulfilment options. This means that
Eurogiro members may send fund transfers
to the Philippines which may be for credit to
Landbank accounts, to accounts of other Phi-
lippine banks or cash pick-up via Landbank’s
extensive branch network. To maximise these
services, Landbank intends to pursue an
intensified campaign for the use of the Multi-
Lateral Framework for Eurogiro members.
The new Landbank Remittance System will
be interfaced with the Eurogiro network such
that transactions are fulfilled as soon as the
funds are available - at any time of the day.
The process will be fully automated and
will thus eliminate errors caused by manual
intervention. The system also interfaces with
the various compliance systems to meet the
requirements of industry regulators. Landbank
is the official government depository of the
Republic of the Philippines and is one of the
top four banks in the country. For its remit-
tance business, it has functional partnerships
with various government agencies concerned
with Filipinos overseas, such as the Depart-
ment of Labour and Employment (DOLE),
Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration
(OWWA), Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA) and the Commission
on Filipinos Overseas (CFO).
The ATM cards that come with the accounts
can be used for ATM withdrawals or POS pur-
chases with major merchandisers. Balances
can be monitored online and funds can be
transferred to enrolled accounts in its web
portal. Likewise, Landbank is now a member
of Bancnet, the Philippines largest bank inter-
bank ATM network, making Landbank’s ser-
vices accessible through almost 9,000 ATMs
of 99 member-banks and thousands of POS
terminals. Landbank recently launched, in
partnership with the Commission on Filipinos
Overseas, a savings programme aimed at
financial inclusion for the Filipino youth sector
(aged 7 to 12) in a system that encourages
Overseas Filipinos to match the savings of
their children and youth family members.
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focusing on the developments that have
taken place within Eurogiro and I am
pleased to be able to say that Eurogiro
constantly strives to enhance services and
business opportunities for all its members.
We are currently working on several
projects which focus on new services within
pre-paid cards and mobile payments – all
in line with our focus on expanding the
network with new members. I hope you will
enjoy reading this issue.
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Søren Rose, CEO Eurogiro
Landbank ensures that overseas-bound Fili-
pinos have bank accounts before they leave
through its financial awareness lectures.
These accounts become repositories for
savings and eventual investible funds, or as
outlets for the daily expenses of beneficiaries
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