BDO Trust Group Attains a Milestone Amid the Pandemic

BDO indeed finds ways. Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, they are reaping banking awards left and right. And now, they report that the BDO Trust Group reached a financial milestone despite the 2020 health and economic crisis.

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BDO Trust Group Hits P1 Trillion Mark

The Trust Group of BDO Unibank has achieved the P1-trillion mark in assets under management (AUM).

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AUM is the total market value of the securities a financial institution manages on behalf of its clients.

This is because of the strong performance of its unit investment trust fund (UITF) business.

Rafael G. Ayuste Jr., BDO senior vice president and trust officer, said its UITF business grew by close to 35% as of end September 2020. Clients flock to the product due to its ready availability for both subscriptions and redemptions. Moreover, clients experience ease of access through the branches and online.  

Increase in the UITF Volumes

The BDO Trust Group saw the UITF volumes increase substantially despite the pandemic, Ayuste said. He adds that the clients see and appreciate the opportunities that the current market presents.

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They know that this will potentially result to significant growth in their investment returns as the market recovers.

UITFs are ready-made investments that allow the pooling of funds from different investors with similar investment objectives.

These funds are then managed by professional fund managers and are invested in various financial instruments. With investments in money market securities, bonds, and equities, BDO Trust can offer a higher return than traditional bank deposit products.

BDO Trust Group Products

BDO Trust offers various peso- and dollar-denominated UITFs intended to meet the diverse objectives and risk appetites of investors.

For only P10,000, investors can already invest in any of BDO’s peso-denominated UITFs, such as:

• Money Market
• Peso Bond
• Equity Index Funds

For the bank’s dollar-denominated UITFs, an investor would only need US$500 to start investing in any of the following:

• Dollar Money Market Fund
• Medium Term Dollar Bond Fund
• Any of the Global Feeder Funds

The bank also has the Easy Investment Plan (EIP), which doesn’t require investors to shell out a huge amount for investment. For as low as P1,000 per month, they can gradually build up their wealth to reach their financial goals.

The EIP is BDO’s way to encourage Filipinos to develop the habit of investing to ensure the stability of their future. It may just even be to build an emergency fund. 

If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is the need to be well-prepared for emergencies. The EIP can also be used for the purpose of “cost averaging” through a disciplined and regular approached to investing

Determined Despite the Crisis

Ayuste stated that the majority of its clients moved their funds to the relative safety and security of money market funds. This was given because of the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown to the financial market.

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¨This way they are able to generate positive albeit lower returns particularly during the height of the pandemic when there was so much uncertainty. We have likewise seen some long-term clients factoring in recovery and are taking the opportunity to buy more equities at current market prices which really presents great upside potential,” he noted.

Even with the prevailing health crisis, BDO continues to embark on aggressive efforts to increase its penetration of the client base, to maintain if not to further increase its market share that is currently at 25%.

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¨We continue to enhance our product and service delivery to ensure ease of access and simplification of client experience,” explained Ayuste.

How to Invest with the BDO Trust Group

Investors can turn to BDO’s Invest Online Facility, an internationally recognized online platform. Here, you can have:

• Easy access to the bank’s UITFs
• Enrollment in an automatic savings and investment program through EIP
• Management of the EIP details
• Checking of the performances of the UITF investments
• Cashing in of the UITF investments booked via Invest Online