BPI, ING jointly manage 32 funds

MANILA, Philippines - The unit investment trust funds (UITF) managed by ING Bank will now be known as Odyssey Funds, and under the overall trusteeship of the asset management group of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI). Last December, BPI bought the trust and investment management business and other related assets in the Philippines of ING Bank N.V. Manila Branch (ING). All 38 employees of ING Bank Manila’s trust department will be absorbed as a separate division under the Asset Management and Trust Group of BPI. That brings the total number of employees of BPI Asset Management to 222, making it one of the largest employers of trust and investment professionals in the country, and manager, advisor and administrator of a total of 32 investment funds, the biggest in the Philippines. BPI’s trust and investment management business manages assets worth P485 billion end 2010. The trust and investment management business of ING Bank Manila ranks sixth with P78 billion in AUM.