Convergys Corp., one of the biggest business process outsourcing firm (BPO) in the Philippines is looking to hire at least 3,600 new employees this year.

The plan of Convergys to hire additional employees was announced by Convergys Philippines country manager and managing and managing director Marife Zamora. She said the expansion is meant to meet the demand of its clients, who mostly belong to the top Fortune 50 list of global firms.

The company has expanded its five of its 12 existing sites in the Philippines, and with the additional new employees, it hopes to bring its total workforce to 25,000 before the year ends.

The sites that are included in the expansion are the: UP TechnoHub in Diliman, Quezon City; San Lazaro in Sta. Cruz, Manila; Nuvali in Laguna; Cebu i3 in AsiaTown Cebu; and Bacolod.

The expansion involved the addition of 2,300 workstations, prompting the need to hire at least 3,600 more people. Of the total, an estimated 350 were for the Bacolod site, 600 for Cebu, and 2,800 for Metro Manila.

Zamora said that the Philippine’s call center agents were among the best, if not the best in Convergy’s global workforce, which fuels client demand for more business to be outsourced here.

“We’re expanding mainly because of the outstanding performance of our employees here and the overall demand for the high-quality service that the Philippine operations are delivering,” she said.

While many of Convergys’ 12 existing facilities were already filled to capacity, she said there were still other sites that had room for expansion. She added however, the company was already looking at several locations nationwide to house possible new site

The country’s largest Filipino-owned coffee company plans to expand operations this year by opening up one or two outlets each month, or a total of 18 stores before the year ends.

Figaro Coffee Co. sets aside a total of P78 million to fund the increase of its 65 coffee shops in the Philippines. Marketing manager of Figaro Coffee Systems Inc., Ace L. Azarraga, noted that each store has an estimated cost of P6.5 million. They have just opened two stores recently, one in DBP Makati and the other in Dasmarinas, Cavite.

“Figaro Coffee Company is now keeping a critical eye on expanding in our home-market, which will focus mostly on business districts around the country as we want more and more people to experience our local barako coffee,” Azarraga said.

The DBP Makati branch is a full store carrying their complete line-up of coffee drinks, breakfast, pasta, pizza, all day breakfast, ala carte, sandwhiches and pastries. The store is located at the ground floor of DBP building, Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., cor. Makati Ave., Makati City., which is perfect for business and casual meetings.

Figaro’s expansion program is in line with its tradition to continue serving the finest native barako coffee in the country by opening more outlets. “As we continue to expand, more and more Filipino coffee farmers are benefited. Figaro Coffee Company only buys local coffee beans,” Azarraga said.

Of the 65 Figaro branches nationwide, most of which are in Luzon, 35 are franchise-owned and 30 are company-owned.

Figaro was established in 1993 and is  a 100-percent Filipino-owned company whose product lines include specialty roasted local coffee varieties and various coffee-related paraphernalia.

The Republic Act 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 was finally signed into law, giving our senior citizens additional benefits. Among them is their exemption from the 12% value-added tax (VAT), as stated in the implementing rules and regulations signed last Friday by the Deparment of Social Works and Development (DSWD). This exemption however, will start on July 6.

With the implementing guidelines, senior citizens can now fully avail of the 20% discount on essential good and services, which include food, medicines and doctors’ fees. Before, they were only able to enjoy an 8% from the supposed 20% because of the 12% VAT.

The expanded law also provides senior citizens discounts on fares for land, air and sea travel, as well as in recreations expenses, such as hotel stays, movie houses and and other leisure activities.

They are also provided by the new law a 5% discount on their monthly utility bills, provided that their household meters are registered in their name, and their consumption does not exceed 100 per kilowatt hour for electricity, and 30 cubic meters for water.

Additional benefits are also given to indigent or non-pensioner senior citizens. They would be entitled to a monthly pension of P500, plus a free medical insurance and disability insurance through Philhealth, and a buriall assistance of P2,000.

Indigent or non-pensioner senior citizens will also be entitled to a monthly pension of P500, free medical insurance and disability insurance through PhilHealth, and burial assitance worth P2,000.

The country’s finance officials were earlier concerned that senior citizens’ exemption from the VAT could reduce government revenues needed to limit the budget deficit.

New Microsoft product launched last week, and the software giant expects Filipino businesses to significantly benefit from them, in terms of productivity gains and higher returns on their software investments.

The Microsoft latest products – Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Vision 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010, were launched last week for customers in the Philippines.

“Microsoft Office 2010 and the 2010 set of products offer people the flexibility to work across their PC, phone, and browser. As a result, companies can save, innovate and grow. This is what we mean when we say that Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 are defining the future of productivity,” Microsoft Asia-Pacific sales and marketing vice president Ken Wye Saw said. He said their products help companies save costs by giving flexibility and choice.

A new remittance system that will allow for a safer, faster and cheaper remittances by OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) will be implemented by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) starting on the third quarter of the year.

This is the new Philippine Payments and Settlements System or Philpass Remit System. Under this new system, the fee will be reduced to P50 per remittance transaction, resulting to savings of P100 to P500, as the current system charges ranges from P150 to P550.

BSP said the Philpass Remit System ensures safer, faster and cheaper means of remittance transaction.

The system involves the use of the BSP-Philpass as the local clearinghouse for the transfer of remittances from a local bank to another bank where the OFW beneficiary maintains an account.

This project was undertaken jointly by the BSP with the Association of Bank Remittance Officers Inc. (ABROI) through a memorandum of agreement signed last December.

The scheduled implementation of the project was supposed in the first quarter of the year, however, only one bank was able to migrate to the new system since the MOA was signed.

The central bank said they will need to wait for the other member banks to resolve their issues on hardware and system connectivity, so they can finally migrate before the new remittance system will be fully operational.

RCBC Bankard recently launched a new credit card which is targeted to serve the upscale needs of discerning shoppers.

The new credit card from RCBC was created in tie-up with Barcelona-based clothing brand Mango and Mastercard. Called the Mango-RCBC Bankard MasterCard, it is the latest addition to MasterCard’s growing roster of value-driven cards.

Holders of Mango-RCBC Bankard MasterCard could avail of of exclusive members-only sale from Mango, one of Europe’s multinational brands renowned globally for designing, manufacturing and marketing stylish women’s and men’s clothing accessories. They would also have priority access to next season’s catalog features and first hand advice on the latest offers.

Aside from those, cardholders are also included in a rewards program that enables them to earn reward points that can be exchanged for Mango items.

And being a MasterCard, it can be used in over 200 countries worldwide, including of course, in any of the 1,223 Mango stores located in 92 countries around the world.

Oscar Biason, president and CEO of RCBC Bankard said, “Most women nowadays are decision-makers who live multi-functional roles. As such, they have disposable incomes that let them spend on their priorities, one of which is shopping for nice clothes. With the launch of Mango-RCBC Bankard MasterCard, we help empower a lot of women by giving them more choices to indulge their flair for fashion, thanks to the many privileges and perks that the card offers.”

RCBC Bankard is one of the leading credit card issuers known for delivering innovative products of the best value and quality supported by superb service.

More job opportunities for Filipino nurses and engineers are waiting in New Zealand and Australia. Filipino professionals will have more chances of finding jobs in New Zealand and Australia as these two countries vowed to increase their demand for healthcare and skilled workers.

This commitment came after the enforcement of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) in January this year.

An effort to raise awareness on the benefit of the said agreement were made by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through a series of seminar there held last week.

The agreement states that up to 100 Filipino nurses will be allowed by New Zealand to work there as registered nurses at any one time for a period of three years. They will be given working visas while they are undergoing the required bridging courses and exam.

Up to 20 Philippine farm managers and 20 Philippine engineering professionals will also be allowed to enter the country at any one time for a period of three years.

Andrew Matheson, New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines, disclosed that the New Zealand government has also agreed to work with the Philippines to help develop the local dairy industry, an industry that currently supplies only about one percent of this country’s demand.

A negotiation for a reciprocal working holiday scheme open to up to 100 citizens of each country may also be entered into between New Zealand and the Philippines, allowing young people to stay for up to a year and work to support their extended vacation.

Subject to a certain condition, Matheson also said New Zealand would allow entry of independent professional service suppliers for up to one year, and entry of business visitors, installers or servicers for up to three months in any calendar year.

“The trade negotiators have done their jobs and it is now up to businesses to take advantage of this agreement and let the benefits of the AANZFTA flow through to businesses and consumers,” said Matheson.

After securing a license to operate in Europe, iRemit made true to its commitment of servicing overseas Filipino worker (OFWs) staying in the region with iRemit Europe.

Now, still the largest Filipino-owned non-bank remittance company, iRemit wants to strengthen its presence in Europe as it plans to open more branches in major cities in the region.

iRemit will be opening more branches in Europe, namely in Milan, Florence, Padua, Plato, Venice, Genoa and Naples, as stated in the company’s disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Aside from those mentioned, iRemit president and chief operating officer Harris Jacildo said the also plans to open branches in France and Switzerland to tap and provide service to the the fast-growing European OFW market.

“This ambitious plan to open branches in the region simultaneously and aggressively pursue opportunities in other territories is a very strategic move that characterizes iRemit as an industry trailblazer,” Jacildo said.

And as Bansan Choa, chairman and chief executive officer of iRemit, the company deemed its high time to move into “previously unchartered territories” to take advantage of opportunities to expand the business and extend its target market to include more Filipinos and other nationals.

iRemit was founded in 2001, and to date still remains to be the largest Filipino-owned non-bank remittance company in the Philippines. It has already established presences in 27 countries in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East with more than 5,000 payout partners nationwide.

More employment opportunities in Taiwan await Filipino jobseekers, the Philippine Star reported today.

In its business page, the local newspaper said that according to local recruiters, there are at least 30,000 jobs awaiting Filipino workers in Taiwan.

Pilipino Manpower Association of Taiwan, Inc. (PILMAT) president Jackson Gan said that factories in Taiwan are still in dire need of Filipinos and other foreign workers.

“Companies in Taiwan continue to hire workers and we have thousands of job orders that are yet to be filled up until this time,” Gan said, adding that  Taiwan has bounced back from last year’s financial crisis and is hiring more workers than in past years.

He said, however, that they are having difficulty recruiting skilled workers to fill up the vacancies because of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) secretary-general’s warning that “the forging of an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and China would adversely affect the employment of OFWs.”

Gan stressed that NEDA’s fear is baseless since Taiwanese employers still prefer Filipinos compared to other workers from other countries.

He said that while Taiwan hires other nationalities like Vietnamese and Indonesians, overseas Filipino workers still have the advantage because Filipinos can speak the English language unlike other nationalities. He also noted that Taiwan hires an average of 40,000 Filipino workers, including factory workers and caregivers, annually.

Gan stressed “NEDA is sounding an alarm without basis that could jeopardize the country’s economic stability. Its warning that thousands of OFWs may lose jobs is far-fetched.”

$500 million retail treasury bonds will be auctioned by the government on April 21. These RTB were intended for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

National Treasurer Roberto Tan is confident that they would be able to sell the whole $500 million after conducting a series of successful briefing in different parts of the globe.

Tan said that they were very pleased with the warm reception from OFWs from the United States, Europe and some parts of Asia.

Tan led of delegate composed of government officials and issue underwriters. They went to different countries conducting “financial literacy seminars” for OFWs to discuss the benefits of investing in the said OFW bonds.

The bonds, which are also known as the Fixed Rate Multicurrency Retail Treasury Bond, will be offered to investors from April 21 to April 27. First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC), BPI Capital Corp., Development Bank of the Philippines, PNB Capital & Investment Corp., and BDO Capital & Investment Corp. were tapped as issue managers of the RTBs.

The investment instruments are available in three and five year bonds, comprising of $400 million in dollar denominated bonds and 75 million in euro-denominated bonds.

At least 20 percent of the $500 million bonds are intended for retail investors, and the rest are for institutional investors. Investments ranging from $100 to $100,000 will be considered retail.

To encourage OFWs to invest in the multi-currency bonds, the government is offering them exemption from the 20 percent tax usually slapped on said instruments. This is in line with the governments thrust to provide overseas Filipinos an investment facility for their earnings.