Can you open a Philippine Peso Bank Account if you are abroad?
What I learned about Full-Service Filipino Banks in the USA (Pesos Series #4)
When my immediate Filipino family members died, I needed a Philippine peso account to receive monetary benefits. Can I open a Peso bank account without going to the Philippines? In this post, I will share what I learned while trying to open a peso account in the USA.
Remittance Centers vs Full Banking Services
Many Philippine banks that operate in the USA are remittance centers or places where you send money to the Philippines; they are not full-service banks where you can open savings and checking accounts. According to Nora Tamba, there are only two Filipino banks that operate fully in the USA: Philippine National Bank (PNB) and Metrobank. Most of their USA branches are either in New York or California so I decided to contact the one in New York
Mostly dollar accounts unless….
I found out that it is possible to open a Peso account if you need to receive pension from the Philippines. One of the two banks me, in 2021, if I am about to receive SSS or GSIS benefits. I said no. They promptly refused my request to open an account. The other bank tried to help me facilitate opening a bank account based in the Philippines but it did not go through. As of this writing, here is what they offer:
Savings, checking and time deposits in PNB but in dollar according to their fees
OFBank by LandBank
There is one more bank that opens a peso account while you are abroad: the Overseas Filipino Bank or OFBank under LandBank of the Philippines. It is an online bank where you can open an account without going to the Philippines. However, only Filipino citizens can open an account. You can read more about it here. My older son, who is a Philippine passport holder, was able to open an account and have banking transactions using the OFBank phone app, even without a physical ATM card. Sadly, I was not able to open an OFBank account when I revealed my USA citizenship.
BDO’s Offer: Open without Stepping into a Branch
There is one more Philippine bank that offers to open a peso account without stepping into a branch: Banco de Oro. It seems to good to be true when they offered to have a zoom call instead of going to a branch as their website said in the screenshot below.
I did everything they asked but they did not even allow me to schedule a zoom video because I am not a Philippine passport holder anymore. Instead, they asked me to personally go to a branch anywhere in the Philippines. Basically, it is harder to open a Peso account from abroad if you are not a Filipino citizen anymore even though are the recipient of government benefits. Next week, I will share the requirements and lessons I learned when opening accounts while being physically present in the Philippines.