The Trust and Investments Group of BDO Unibank bagged three major awards in Alpha Southeast Asia’s inaugural Fund Management Awards 2019, including the Philippines’ Best Overall Asset and Fund Manager and Best Asset Manager for Equity and Fixed Income Funds, and the Best Fund with the optimal Sharpe ratio category.
“We are very proud of these awards because they are a testament that we are indeed delivering on our commitment to generate strong risk-adjusted performance for our clients. To be named as best asset manager for major asset classes indicate that we are ever ready to help clients navigate through investment markets and our prudent strategies result in top-tier investment returns while still keeping risk very low,” said Rafael G. Ayuste, Jr., senior vice president and trust officer of BDO Trust.
BDO manages various Unit Investment Trust Funds (UITFs) across a multi-asset, multi-currency and multi-strategy platform for both retail and institutional clients. It also corners a hefty share of the institutional investor composed of retirement funds, pre-need companies, insurance funds, schools, and top corporations in the country. As such, it is the undisputed leader in the Philippine asset management industry with consolidated assets under management of more than PhP1Trillion.
Alpha Southeast Asia likewise praised BDO for its development of sustainable strategies such as anchoring its retail business growth through the use of technology. Its BDO Invest Online features a fully straight-through account opening process for its UITF and BDO Easy Investment Plan (EIP), which allows an investor to open an account and invest in less than five minutes. BDO EIP is an auto-investment scheme which encourages the twin habits of regularly saving and investing for as low as PhP1,000 every month to enable customers to achieve financial wellness.
Moreover, BDO is the only Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) administrator currently that allows clients to apply for a PERA account online. These functionalities combined create the most powerful financial inclusion tool currently available in the country today.
“We believe that by investing heavily in technology to enhance our digital facilities, we can make investments more inclusive, bringing the opportunity to invest to a larger percentage of the working population, including overseas Filipinos,” Ayuste added.
The Alpha Southeast Asia inaugural Fund Management Awards 2019 recognizes leading multi-asset fund management companies that provide solid and transparent investment process, secured risk management, proper investment accounting systems, quality investment research, advanced portfolio management and diversification, above par risk-adjusted returns, and overall long-term outstanding fund performance.
Earlier this year, BDO Trust was likewise awarded the Fund House of the Year and Asset Management Company of the Year in the AsianInvestor’s Asset Management Awards, and The Asset Triple A – Asset Servicing, Institutional Investor and Insurance Awards, respectively. These recognitions attest to the organization’s exemplary investment expertise, impeccable customer service, and strong leadership which sets the tone for innovation and industry practice in the asset management industry.