PH to Remain a BPO Magnet – Dutch Banking Giant

ING Group, a Dutch financial, is looking into growing their shared services center in the Philippines despite the threats in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry due the challenges and setbacks in the local and global markets.

ING Business Shared Services (IBSS), ING’s sole shared services center in Asia, remains confident that the Philippines will remain a “captive offshoring” market for international companies despite showing a slowdown in generating BPO revenues.

ING Bank Manila branch senior economist, Joey Cuyegkeng, expected that the revenues from BPO would increase by less than 10% this year and would and would become relatively smaller in years to come.

Cayugkeng noted that the BPO sector’s investment pledges has been experiencing a 22% annual drop because of “competition from other Asian economies, onshoring threats for US companies, security concerns, and uncertainties over incentives.”

Coefficients Co. Ltd, is well aware of the market competition. However, the company is remaining positive that this year will end on a positive note and that 2018 has a lot in store. Just last week, their customer support representative for a US based tent manufacturing company attended a week long training to further enhance their skills and prepare them for the company’s UK expansion.

These BPO revenues are responsible for about 47% of the country’s structural inflows last year and thus have a huge effect on the strength of the Philippine peso.

Together with remittances from overseas, the $25-billion BPO sector has been one of the key drivers of domestic consumption.

Still, ING stated last Thursday that they remain “deeply invested” in the country’s potential for growth and development.

To support this, ING Bank Manila’s incoming country manager Hans Sicat stated that “the trend for captive shared services centers is to move more knowledge- and skill-based operations to countries where labor is not only available, but also adaptable. So the Philippines continues to be a good location for many global companies”,

Contrary to the usual business model in the country where BPO companies serve as third party service providers, IBSS, as a captive shared services hub, serves to ING’s internal processing requirements in their Asia, Europe and North America based businesses. This business set up also allows ING to keep their employee attrition low, as well as let their staff learn and experience global practices and standards.

Considering IBSS’ growth, onshore operations has been relocated to a bigger office spaces at the newly established World Plaza of Daiichi Properties, a Philippine Economic Zone Authority-registered site in Taguig City, to have room for  more in-house processing from ING’s worldwide business. Having four floors presently, IBSS is expecting to double their office space take up over the coming years.