Deutsche Bank remains committed to Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Deutsche Bank AG remains committed to doing business in the Philippines despite its decision to sell its trust business to BDO Unibank Inc., the main banking unit of the SM Group, a bank official said.

In an email, Deutsche Bank vice president for communications Stuart Haslam said they intend to keep their presence in the Philippines as this is not affected by the sale agreement between the two financial institutions.

“Deutsche Bank remains deeply committed to the Philippines where it has a large presence – employing over 2000 staff in markets, transaction banking and DKS (Deutsche Knowledge Services) business support operation. These are entirely unaffected,” he said.

Haslam said the sale of its trust business to BDO is part of the German bank’s overall asset and wealth management strategy.

“This is a strategic rationalization for our asset and wealth management division and Deutsche Bank is simply concentrating its Asia Pacific asset and wealth management manufacturing capability in Singapore and Hong Kong,” he said.

For his part, BDO president Nestor Tan said the purchase of Deutsche Bank AG Manila’s trust business would further strengthen their asset under management (AUM) portfolio.

“We deemed it as a good opportunity for our trust business. The acquisition will add scale to our operations as well as expand further our  client base,” he said.

Both bank officials did not disclose the transaction amount but official data showed that as of end-2013, BDO’s trust business stood at P773 billion.

Deutsche Bank Manila trust business, on the other hand, is worth about P70 billion.

Deutsche Bank obtained a full commercial banking license in mid-1995, after operating as an offshore banking unit (OBU) in Manila since 1977. The Deutsche Bank Group in the Philippines consists of joint venture Deutsche Regis Partners and subsidiary DKS.

Meanwhile, BDO, the country’s biggest bank, provides a wide range of corporate and retail banking services and is the market leader in most of its businesses. These include traditional loan and deposit products, as well as treasury, trust banking, investment banking, private banking, cash management, leasing and finance, remittance, insurance, retail cash cards and credit card services.