Firm offers money management class

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

AMID the deepening global financial crisis, the International Marketing Group (IMG) is intensifying its efforts to promote financial education among domestic and overseas Filipino workers.

“Filipinos know how to work but some of them do not know how to make their money work for them,” said IMG president and chief executive officer Jose Enrique de Las Peñas.

In Hong Kong, where IMG is now on its fourth year of operations, about 3,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) out of more than 150,000 are affiliated with IMG.

IMG is an international financial distribution company with branches in the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines, among others.

Its product portfolio includes retirement strategies, mutual funds, peso and dollar investments, long-term health care, pre-need plans, life insurance, investment adviser services, mortgage insurance, business insurance and estate preservation.

De Las Peñas said IMG gets about 1,000 OFW-affiliates in Hong Kong annually.

The company is also planning to extend its wealth management training to more OFWs in Macau, Dubai, Singapore, Athens, Spain, and Milan, among others.

“If these OFWs have no financial plan and the families receiving their money are not educated to handle (their remittances), the money they send to the country will all be used up,” said IMG chief executive officer Noel Arandilla.

De Las Peñas said OFWs and domestic workers in the country find it difficult to manage their hard-earned income due to lack of financial education.

Meanwhile, Arandilla noted an increase in inquiries received by their offices nationwide from individuals and various sectors seeking for the company’s aid to train them on financial management due to the economic slowdown.

Some of the inquiries come from sectors like technology and electronics, which are among those heavily affected by the crisis, said de Las Peñas. He added that about 20 Cebu-based companies have sought IMG’s help.

Sectors that are doing well but still recognize the importance of financial intelligence include religious groups, the academe and cooperatives.

“In general, everyone (is feeling) the global financial crisis. We at IMG want to project that there is hope amid this crisis,” said de Las Peñas.

He said an affected company can recover from the crisis by implementing wealth management. (NRC)