JEDDAH, 19 Sept. — If things go according to plan, Filipinos in the Kingdom and elsewhere will have another choice in remitting their earnings to the Philippines.

Officials of the Manila-based OFW International Holdings yesterday said they are now looking for a Saudi bank as a possible partner to handle the remittance service should their plan to establish the OFW Bank prosper.

Jimmy Leonida, a board member of the holding company, said though that talks about negotiations going on were premature.

He also said that Bernard Valerio, a bank employee who had earlier been mentioned to be involved in negotiations, has nothing to do with the OFW International Holdings’ exploration activities.

He issued the statement to clarify the misimpression that Valerio’s presence during a presentation conducted by OFW Holdings in Riyadh last weekend was part of the “negotiations.”

Valerio was just among several Filipino banking and investment professionals invited to the presentation, he said.

Leonida said they still have yet to reach the negotiation stage with any bank as they are still presenting the plan to members of the community while at the same time “scouting” for possible partners among banks in the Kingdom and other countries.

“We hope to conduct exploratory talks with several groups so that we can make a good decision,” he said.

Next month, representatives of OFW International Holdings will go to Geneva, Switzerland to also present the group’s vision.

Dennis de Guzman of Kakkampi in Geneva, one of the proponents of the OFW Bank, said preparations for the Geneva presentation is being handled by Lani Fe L, who is a charter founder of OFW Holdings like Leonida.

Similar presentations will be done in other key places worldwide where there’s a concentration of Filipinos. Among those next in line are New Jersey and San Francisco in the United States, said Leonida.

The purpose of the presentations is to sell to Filipino workers and migrants the idea of putting up a bank for overseas Filipinos. The main contention is that overseas Filipinos could make maximum use of their earnings if they pool these together and put up their own business concerns.

Among the possible business operations being looked into are transport, financing, insurance and banking.