Best way to send large sum of money from Canada to Philippines

[GeoffH]

26 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

The CDIC in Canada only guarantees $100K so it is risky everywhere.  

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Before someone says:  Oh but that is Canada and the banks are safer.  Here is a quote from the CDIC.  On June 4, 1996, about 2,600 Canadians discovered that their savings were not immediately available from their financial institution. They had entrusted a total of $42 million in deposits to Calgary-based Security Home Mortgage Corporation, which had closed its doors for good.

 

 

To a degree that is true, in Australia for example the limit is $250K AU$.   But it is more limiting in the Philippines because 500K PHP is a limit that more of us expats are able to exceed compared to our limits at home.

[GeoffH]

Just now, RubberChicken said:

Geoff,

You feel comfortable with those amounts in a consumer unfriendly and digitally antiquated banking environment?  (I do find the banks ethical, I trust them in that context.)

I have something to learn from your response. 🙂

 

I don't risk amounts of money that I can't afford to lose in Philippines banking accounts, at the end of the day 500K php is about $13800 AUD, yes it's a lot of money but it's a small percentage of my money/assets and it's worth the convenience of having money local.  The alternative is keeping $10,000 to $15,000 in a safe in the house (which we don't do) and honestly that's got its own risks (and not just losing money risks).

If you're talking about amounts larger than that then they're kept in Australian financial institutions or (more likely) invested.

 

[TimL]

2 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Are you aware that the Philippines bank system will only guarantee you P500k if the bank should go bust. Probably OK in the big banks but risky is in one of the smaller ones. 

He prob won’t have it long enough for the bank to get it. 

[loveiloilo]

1 hour ago, TimL said:

He prob won’t have it long enough for the bank to get it. 

The best rate I was able to obtain was through the Development Bank of the Philippines. They gave me a very good rate because I am using this money as a 20% down payment on a Agro loan through this bank.

My wife maintains a BDO US Dollar savings account. They could not come close to the rate DBP gave me.

[JJReyes]

14 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

On 5/16/2019 at 7:49 AM, JJReyes said:

that OFW deployment has already peaked.

 Has it JJ from what source did you glean this?

Two sources: 

Philippine Statistics Authority reports that one in four (24.3%) OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) were employed in Saudi Arabia.  Majority of females are in elementary occupation (such as education).  This is one occupation that Saudi women are now permitted.  As Saudi women receive their teaching credentials, the Filipinas are sent home.  Males are involved in construction, plant and machine operations, and manufacture assembly.  With the economy going down, less workers are needed.  This is actually true all over the Middle East with the exception of Qatar who remains busy in building the infrastructure needed for World Cup 2022.

PhilStar reported on September 24, 2018 that OFW deployment dropped after 10 years of continual growth.  The decline was approximately 9% based on 2017 data.  I recall reading in another article that 2016 was the banner year or peak for OFWs.  It could have been a BBC news report.

BPO is a different industry and it might still be growing compared to OFW.  

 

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by JJReyes