sunnydays

The top Philippine banks all have on-line access and a branch in the UK. Transfers are all done in a few hours.
What also matters is how you see the bank here in the Philippines, are the staff happy and cheerful, are they helpful etc.
You'd be surprised at the difference between them all. The location is also important as are the ATMs.
I am very happy with BPI, they tick all the boxes for me and as we have a decent size deposit account they give as gold card and express visa card. Being also a "Preferred" customer we have a separate teller and priority service.
BPI have their own currency exchange network so can provide good rates.

Visit your nearby banks and get a feel for how they treat you.
Visited our local BPI once when the queue outside was really long, the manageress invited us to sit and chat with her and her assistant got us the withdrawal:.......now hows that for service.

wisefoxylady

Regardless of where you are in Philippines, go for banks with CIRRUS network membership. As a rule, most senior citizens are given priority with almost all of the banks here. All you need to do is approach the security and request for priority service. The Philippines is very accommodating to older people when it comes to services, thought it may be not the same in some places in the country. What's best is to approach the security and request to have an audience with the bank manager and shoot your concern straight to that person...it's like cutting the waiting time a further 50%.

miradav

Update.
As from June? hopefully, the The International Pension service will be transferring by electronic transfer to the Philippines, I was informed of this when 2 of my checks which were sent did not arrive at the bank. They cancelled the checks and are doing a manual transfer by Swift till Direct payment is setup. Still have problems here, been in discussions with BDO about the length of time it takes to go into my account, I know on which date the transfer takes place as was given this by a very helpful person at IPS. Still trying to resolve this, also have told them that BPI Bank do not charge any fees for the transfer from Manila. Looking at changing banks if BDO do not come up with a resolution. Their Slogan "We have Ways" should be changed to "We have your money, but you try to get it"

sunnydays

I have a civil service pension sent to my account with BPI. Initially I was concerned with the rate of exchange and transfer fees and asked for interest rates over a period of days to compare with the pension rate provider in the UK.
Surprisingly they were comparable and its been okay ever since.
The pension contact I had in the UK stated that any pensioner would not be underpaid with the exchange rate ....and she was right!
I check it every month with express on line.
I opened a Sterling account with BPI and its passbook only with the branch you decide to use. However its available to be seen on line.

miradav

Update:

Informed today As from the 1st April 2012, all state pensions will be paid by direct payment, no more payable orders will be issued. Since my last update I have an account with BPI now, the money is in the account after 3 days, except for weekends when it takes 5 days. I am on manual direct payment of the pension at the moment after cheques started going missing. If you are still receiving by cheque and having problems contact the international pension centre, they were very helpful and had my missing pension payments in the account in just 3 days.
Any body know the arrangement of payment of the 13 months.

EG 28 Days = 1 month
Pension Payment every 28 Days = 13 Months

Do we get a 13th month payment?