Metrobank’s CTF breaks P100-B ceiling

The Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) has reached another milestone when its common trust fund (CTF) surpassed the P100-billion marking its assets under management (AUM) last year.

In fact, Metro-bank’s total AUM amounted to P107-billion, or a more than 50-percent increase from the P71-billion recorded in 2002.

That has allowed the country’s largest commercial bank to corner a 16-percent market share in the CTF banking business.

Since 1999, it has been growing by 500-percent from P18-billion to P100-billion in the past four years. That is an annual average growth rate of 56 percent.

Metrobank executive vice president and trust officer Josefina E. Sulit boosted that the right product mix, investment expertise and excellent service remains the key to their outstanding growth.

"Clients can choose the type of funds that matches their particular investment needs. We have at our disposal research and technology that allow us to respond to market changes as well as investment and asset management needs of our clients," Sulit stressed.

As expected, the foreign currency fund remains among the top sellers.

Metro Dollar Trust Fund is the flagship US dollar-denominated fund invested in high-yielding dollar bonds and other dollar-denominated securities not usually available to local investors.

Among the peso-denominated funds, the fixed income MetroFund topped as it allowed bank clients to reinvest their interest income together with their principal on a regular basis. Other CTFs are the Metro Common Wealth Fund, Metro Extra, Metrofund Max-5, Metro Invest Plus, and Metro Capital.

The latest addition to the CTF family is the Abundance, a high net worth product, which combines the benefits of tax-exemption, estate planning and asset management under a living trust arrangement. It has value-added Loyalty Travel benefits that allows clients to accumulate points redeemable as travel rewards.

"Prospectively, the business is positioned to expand into global investment markets, at the right time with the right investment products and services, to cater to the growing investment sophistication of our clients," Sulit added.