DMW, PSE ink MOU on OFW financial literacy

A government education program has been launched to teach overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) financial literacy and investment know-how, as well as protect them from investment fraud and scams.

The program was formalized on Thursday with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Philippine Stocks Exchange (PSE).

Among the goals of the program is to teach OFWs, including those who will be returning to the country for good, the fundamentals of investing in the stock market, according to the DMW.

“We don’t want them to keep their money in their maletas (suitcases) and their drawers, we want them to take part in the nation-building effort that the President so exhorts,” said DMW officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac in a speech.

According to PSE president and chief executive officer Ramon Monzon, only 5.6% of the 1.7 million retail investor accounts in the stock market are from OFWs as of 2022. He said this consists of only 94,000 of the estimated 2.33 million OFWs registered with the DMW and cleared by the Bureau of Immigration for overseas employment as of 2023. 

“Clearly this project is important and needed if we are to grow the OFW investor base,” Monzon said in his opening remarks, referring to the DMW-PSE collaboration.

Aside from teaching personal finance and the fundamentals of investing in the stock market, the program also aims to give the OFWs information and advice against investment fraud and scams.

Government records show the number of OFWs reached an all-time high in 2023 with 2.33 million, up from 1.2 million in 2022.

Cash remittances from OFWs last year also hit a record high of $33.49 billion, up 2.9% from $32.54 billion in 2022, based on government data cited by Monzon.

The signing of the MOU was led by Cacdac and Monzon and witnessed by 10 representatives from various OFW organizations. —KBK, GMA Integrated News