Consumer financial services center PERA HUB beefed up its Digital Remittance Platform (DRP) to enable more Filipinos overseas to send money to their families in the Philippines digitally.

PERA HUB provides businesses and digital communities with access to its global remittance network, retail and over-the-counter partners, banks, wallets, and fintech partners. 

PERA HUB cited data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which showed a 3% increase in personal remittances from Filipinos abroad, reaching $5.93 billion in February 2023 compared with the $5.76 billion recorded in the same month last year. This follows the new record high of $3.49 billion in December 2022,  an increase of 5.7% from $3.3 billion in the same month in 2021. Based on 2021 data from the World Bank, personal remittances account for 9.3% of the country’s gross domestic product or  GDP. 

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“We want to provide financial services to the Filipino, and this time we want to evolve and expand beyond that community that we have today and go to the digital space and enable it for them,” said Bryan Makasiar, senior assistant vice president for digital business at PERA HUB. 

To date, PERA HUB has partnered with UnionBank and RCBC and has integrated their remittance API in the UnionBank and Diskartech mobile apps, allowing their customers to receive their remittances in-app. Among its partner remittance service providers are Western Union, Remitly, Instant Cash,  Intel Express, Japan Remit, and Sendah Remit—with more on the way. 

“The shift in digital plays a big part in our decision to provide OFWs with more options to remit safely and efficiently,” said Ian Ocampo, president and CEO of PERA HUB, the retail brand of PETNET. “This thrust has also allowed us to prioritize financial inclusion that accommodates the growth in remittances, as well as strengthen our digital network and continue to provide not only remittance but also other relevant financial services in our counters and channels.”

PERA HUB has been in the business for 25 years with over 180 company-owned branches and more than 3,000 sub-agent locations across the Philippines, each one functioning as a one-stop location for every transaction needs, including remittances.