BDO renews remittances partnership with Japan’s Seven Bank

By Gloria Methri

When sending cash to their families back home, Overseas Filipinos in Japan largely look for convenience and reliability. On these two fronts, BDO Unibank and Seven Bank recently renewed their commitment to satisfy loyal Kabayans as well as attract new ones to their growing platform.

The strategic alliance of the banking experts from two of Asia’s robust economies was off to a great start when it was first announced back in 2017. Now, seven years later, both institutions recognise that collaboration has brought many benefits to their customers. BDO and Seven Bank are exploring more opportunities for their partnership to expand across other products and services.

President and Representative Director of Seven Bank Masaaki Matsuhashi commended BDO for its focus on customers. “This is a common value Seven Bank has as well,” he said. “BDO is very passionate and aggressive in providing new services to customers, so we want to have a good partnership to do things together with them.”

Currently, clients can easily transfer money from Japan to the Philippines using the Seven Bank’s International Money Transfer app on their mobile phones.

BDO Senior Vice President and head of Remittance, Genie T. Gloria said, “We saw that one hurdle for Filipino workers in Japan is visiting banks and remittance centres during the daytime because of their work schedule. Our alliance with Seven Bank is a game changer, allowing 24×7 remittance through their mobile app and ATM network of 27,000 all over Japan.”

BDO offers an unrivalled physical and digital footprint for Overseas Filipinos and families. With BDO Kabayan Savings, beneficiaries can easily receive and withdraw money 24×7 from any part of the Philippines through BDO’s over 5,700 ATMs. There’s also the Cash Pick-up Anywhere, where they can claim money at more than 14,000 locations nationwide, including from over 1,700 BDO and BDO Network Bank branches, BDO Remit counters inside SM malls, and more than 12,000 Cash Agad partner agents.

On top of its wide accessibility, Matsuhashi also said, “In the remittance business in general, there are some cases wherein the remittance failed to be sent. With BDO, all transactions are successfully sent by the senders and received by the beneficiaries. This is one of the strengths BDO has.”

Seven Bank’s positive views and experience are shared by BDO’s vast and long-standing network of remittance partners from different parts of the globe, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. Overseas Filipino remittances are one of the largest in the world and reached a historic high of $37.2 billion in 2023.