Banco de Oro gets citation

For the second consecutive year, Banco de Oro’s (BDO) trust banking group was ranked as the leading fund manager in the Watson Wyatt’s Survey of Investment Performance of retirement funds in the Philippines for the quarter as well as for the year-to-date ending June 30 this year.

Among the group of 15 participating fund managers, BDO had the highest average return of investment (ROI) at 14.94 percent for the quarter and 14.69 percent for the year-to-date. Watson Wyatt Worldwide is an international firm of consultants and actuaries, which provides totally independent advice on human resources management.

Watson Wyatt Philippines, the local counterpart, has been operating in the Philippines since 1981. It conducts the Watson Wyatt-survey on investment performance.

Watson Wyatt has been conducting this survey since 1984 and to date there are 170 retirement funds from 129 companies enrolled in the survey. The survey compares in a consistent manner the investment performance of one retirement vis-à-vis other retirement funds. The total peso value of funds surveyed amounted to about P 18.7 billion and these are under the management of 15 banks/investment houses, as investment managers.

BDO’s trust banking group offers a whole range of trust products, including a full selection of common trust funds (CTFs), retirement and employee benefits plans, investment management and advisory services, trust agreements, wealth planners, pre-need fund management, escrow agency, custodianship services, mortgage trust indentures and other collateral agency.

BDO trust assets stood at P 35 billion as of end September, ranking it among the five largest trust providers in the industry.

Its Smart Money Fund, a CTF geared for small peso investors, earned a gross yield of 6.07-percent for first semester of 2002, better than the average 30 days special savings benchmark recorded.

Smart Money Dollar Fund, on the other hand, garnered a gross yield of 3.61 percent for the first semester of 2002, outperforming the average 30 days LIBOR benchmark by 1.76 percent.

The Premium Growth Fund and Pentium Income Fund, BDO’s long term tax exempt CTFs, posted average yields for the first semester of 2002 of 7.60 percent and 7.22 percent, respectively. The yields were higher than the average 91-day Treasury bill (T-bill) rates by 1.30 percent and 0.92 percent, respectively.