Bank of Commerce joins ranks of top fund managers

MANILA, Philippines — The banking arm of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has joined the ranks of the country’s top performing fund managers as two of its peso unit investment trust funds (UITFs) ranked third in their respective categories.

According to a recent industry survey conducted by UITF resource center www.uitf.com.ph, the Diversity Money Market Fund (DMMF) of Bank of Commerce was the third best-performing in its category for the past 12 months, besting 33 others.

The bank’s Diversity Peso Bond Fund (DPBF) also clinched the same position for the period ending June, beating out nine other players in its category.

The DMMF suits conservative investors with a horizon of one year or less, as it is invested in bank deposits, Treasury bills, and other short-term investments.

With a minimum placement of P10,000 held for at least 30 days, a client can potentially earn a similar net rate that would have been given to another investor putting in P1 million in deposits or government securities.

“UITF is the best way to start a savings plan even with a small amount.  Coupled with Bank of Commerce’s Easy Investment Plan (building a nest egg is simple and easy),” Bank of commerce senior vice president and Trust Services Group head Gamalielh Ariel Benavides.

Despite the challenging environment for bond-type funds, its DPBF remains consistent as one of the most defensive in the category of long-term bond UITFs, attesting to the astute fund management practices of Bank of Commerce.

San Miguel Properties Inc. and San Miguel Corp. Retirement Plan hold 39.89 percent and 38.54 percent ownership of the issued shares of Bank of Commerce.

SMC through SMC Equivest Corp. invested an additional P5.5 billion into the bank to boost efforts of upgrading from a commercial to universal bank. This translated to a 39 percent jump in the bank’s total capital to P23 billion last year.

Bank of Commerce has a network of 140 branches and aims to deploy more ATMs in addition to the 253 count at end-March.