Biz Buzz: Demoralized employees
The employees of this large insurance firm are up in arms over changes being implemented by the new management.
Biz Buzz has learned that a new cost reduction regime has been put in place in recent weeks by the new CEO who—the employees point out—has neither friends nor longstanding ties with the company he runs (but is instead supposed to be close to the “powers that be” abroad).
One such cost reduction measure was a cut in the transportation allowance of the insurance firm’s agents. This has forced many of them to turn to public transportation (in business suits and ties for the men and pencil-cut skirts for the women) from previous semi-private modes like taxis. This, the agents are complaining, is particularly difficult when going on calls to remote areas at odd hours to meet with clients.
Aggravating their aggravation in the new year was last month’s Christmas party, which another company insider described as the worst experience in her many years of service in the insurance firm.
According to her, the horrors of the Christmas party was all over social media the very night it was held. Employees had to line up and wait for as long as three hours for their meals, which consisted of a hamburger or hotdog and nachos. Also served were unlabeled bottled iced tea or lemonade which, according to our source, “tasted weird.”
She added: “No water was served.”
The Christmas party program ended at 10:30 p.m. and there were still long lines of employees at the food stalls. Some had to wait another two hours for their meals. Many simply went home without having received their dinner rations.
What really riled the employees, apparently, was that top management was served a different fare (“a real feast,” according to our informant) within sight of all the other disgruntled employees lining up the kiosks.
“The next day, instead of a straight apology, blame was directed toward the caterers,” says our informant.
The clincher? A “chicken meal” was put forward as a peace offering—120 meals on a first-come, first-served basis … for over 600 affected employees.
Only a few meals were taken and many of the outraged employees wore black (in stark contrast to the red and green Christmas colors).
The employees’ ire is now being directed at the interim CEO whom they describe as a “self-declared messiah,” but is, according to them, a “far cry” from the previous “well-loved” boss.
The result? The insurance firm has fallen two notches in the industry ranking from its former top perch. Daxim L. Lucas
Metro deal
THE Tys’ banking arm Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. may have divested a lot of non-core assets to prepare for the stringent capital requirements of Basel 3, but it has a few other prized assets tucked away from which it can unlock values this year.
Industry sources say that Metrobank has a three-hectare property in Bonifacio Global City, where land values have skyrocketed recently following the hefty deals bagged by the Government Service Insurance System (valued at over 500,000 per square meter). The property is beside the Grand Hyatt, which will rise by 2016 or 2017.
But because this lot is in a plum location at a time when the property market is still hot, and based on how GT Capital Holdings has realigned assets within the group in the last few years, the property will likely be sold to affiliate property firm Federal Land.
Although we don’t expect any prospective transaction to match the eye-popping prices for GSIS’ smaller tracts of land in the vicinity, even from a low-end estimate of P250,000 per square meter, one could “guesstimate” that Metrobank can raise several billions from this deal, adding to extraordinary earnings this 2015.
In any case, Metrobank has received its board’s approval to raise P32 billion from a stock rights offering. The exercise will enable the bank to support an accelerating growth momentum. Doris C. Dumlao
Mutual fund supermarket
FUND manager Marvin Fausto reappeared in media last week after retirement last year as chief investment officer of Banco de Oro Unibank.
He announced COL Financial’s launch within the next few months of the Philippines’ first “mutual fund supermarket”—an online platform that will allow COL to distribute to retail investors the mutual funds of the country’s six major mutual fund houses: Sun Life of Canada, Bank of the Philippine Islands’ ALFM, Philam Asset Management Inc., First Metro Asset Management Inc., Philequity Management Inc. and ATR Kim Eng Asset Management.
Fausto, who has accepted the challenge of building up the mutual fund business of the country’s biggest online brokerage, said about 25 funds of the six major houses (with combined assets under management of more than P200 billion) would be made available using this platform.
COL sees a lot of cross-selling opportunities given its retail investor base of over 100,000. While its clients mostly trade on their own, some may want to leave some funds for professional managers to handle.
Also, COL would soon close a deal with these mutual fund houses for the waiver of front-end fees as incentive to new investors who would invest using COL’s platform. Such fees range from as low as 0.5 percent to as high as 3.5 percent, depending on the size of the investment (the lower the investment, the higher the fees). COL, on the other hand, will have a share of the management fees collected by the mutual fund companies.
Aside from making available these funds to the public, a rating system for the mutual funds will likewise be introduced by COL. Fausto said COL would also come up with independent research reports—similar to how its brokerage arm scrutinizes listed companies—and will even issue commentaries on how the funds are being managed. Doris C. Dumlao
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