BDO Unibank reported that its Trust Group has achieved the P1-trillion mark in assets under management (AUM) on the back of the strong performance of its unit investment trust fund (UITF) business.
AUM is the total market value of the securities a financial institution manages on behalf of its clients.

BDO Senior Vice President and Trust Officer Rafael G. Ayuste Jr. said its UITF business grew by close to 35 percent as of end September 2020 as clients flock to the product due to its ready availability for both subscriptions and redemptions as well as the ease of access through the branches and online.
UITFs are ready-made investments that allow the pooling of funds from different investors with similar investment objectives. These funds are managed by professional fund managers and are invested in various financial instruments such as money market securities, bonds and equities, which offer higher return than traditional bank deposit products.
“We saw the UITF volumes increase substantially despite the pandemic. The clients see and appreciate the opportunities that the current market presents which will potentially result to significant growth in their investment returns as the market recovers,” he said.
BDO Trust offers various peso- and dollar-denominated UITFs intended to meet the diverse objectives and risk appetites of investors in terms of growing their portfolio earnings.
The bank also has the Easy Investment Plan (EIP) which doesn’t require investors to shell out a huge
amount for investment. The EIP is BDO’s way to encourage Filipinos to develop the habit of investing to ensure stability of their future or even just to build an emergency fund.
The EIP can also be used for the purpose of “cost averaging” through a disciplined and regular approached to investing.
Ayuste stated that majority of its clients moved their funds to the relative safety and security of money market funds given the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown to the financial market.
“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 percent.
“We continue to enhance our product and service delivery to ensure ease of access and simplification of client experience,” explained Ayuste.