BDO’s trust assets breach P1 trillion

The country’s largest lender BDO Unibank has breached the P1-trillion milestone in group-wide trust assets under management (AUM) at end-2016, the first local financial institution to hit this mark.

The AUM of the local banking giant grew by 12 percent last year to hit the P1-trillion mark.

In disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, BDO said the consolidated AUM was shared between BDO’s Trust and Investments Group (TIG) with P755 billion and the Wealth Advisory and Trust Group (WATG) of subsidiary BDO Private Bank (BDOPB) with P273 billion.

TIG offers retail investments products, notably its family of unit investment trust fund (UITFs). It also manages customized portfolios for individuals as well as corporations.

BDOPB, on the other hand, focuses on servicing the investment and estate planning needs of high-networth individuals using an “open architecture” framework. This means that BDOPB invests its clients’ funds not just in BDO group’s proprietary financial products but even in competitors’ products for as long as they are suitable to clients’ risk profile.

Ador Abrogena, executive vice president and trust officer of BDO, said: “2016 was a banner year for BDO both for business growth and new product development in terms of trust assets.”

BDO launched last year the BDO ESG Equity Fund which is invested in the stocks of local companies with consideration for good environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices. For developing this pioneering investment fund, BDO Trust won The Asset Magazine’s “Impact Investor of the Year Award” during the 2016 Triple A Asset Servicing, Investor and Fund Management Awards.

For global investors, BDO introduced the BDO US Equity Feeder Fund for clients who wish to invest in the US equities. This widened the choices of investors looking to invest in foreign markets and complemented BDO’s current listing of feeder funds as follows: BDO Developed Markets Property Index Feeder Fund, BDO Global Equity Select Feeder Fund and the BDO China Equity Feeder Fund.

A feeder fund is one that puts all of its investment capital into a bigger umbrella fund or “master fund” that handles all portfolio investments and trading.

Last year, BDO also became the country’s first accredited Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) Administrator, after hurdling the requirements of both the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

PERA is a voluntary retirement account meant to supplement a Filipino’s Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System and/or corporate pension benefits.

BDO TIG’s investment products can be accessed through its more than 1,000 branch network strategically located nationwide. Aside from the branches, BDO UITFs, which also have the largest AUM in this segment, are also available through its “Invest Online” facility which allows 24/7 investment transactions. Its UITFs are also available via the Easy Investment Plan (EIP), a facility that enables investors to save and invest regularly and do peso cost averaging.

“We are grateful to our clients whose continuing confidence in our trust and investment products and services propelled us to reach P1 trillion AUM level. This achievement will not only inspire us to work harder towards better serving our clients, it will also strengthen our resource base that will allow us to fully harness economies of scale and thereby deliver better performance,” Abrogena said.