FILIPINO investors are starting to shift to medium- and long-term products rather than putting their hard-earned money on short-term, high-yield placements.
At the sidelines of a Security Bank event last week, the bank’s Wealth Senior Vice President Rene Aguirre said Filipino clients often seek investments that offer high yields, minimal risk and immediate access to their funds, although these objectives do not always go together.
“A lot of our customers, we’ve seen them largely focus on the rate,” he added.
“If you’re always chasing the short-term yield, when interest rates start to turn around, then you could easily be hit with reduced yields over the medium term,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre said they encourage clients to diversify their portfolios amid uncertainties.
“What we have been trying for the past 12 to 18 months was to really diversify the mix of the customer portfolio,” Aguirre said.
“Over the past year, I would say, almost between double to triple the number of our customers and the number of our transactions now involve medium to longer-term investments,” he added.
Aguirre said they continue to push their clients to build more diversified portfolios instead of focusing primarily on interest rates and moving their money between banks in search of marginally higher returns.
“This is also a time to reflect,” he added.
Aguirre said wealth management should go beyond comparing rates and instead consider the opportunities available through a more diversified portfolio and a longer investment horizon.
“When we go through a more comprehensive portfolio review, our goal is to uncover those needs,” Aguirre said.
He said their approach involves reviewing customers’ financial circumstances, risk tolerance and objectives to determine which investment products are appropriate for them.
Aguirre said they are targeting to grow its wealth assets under management (AUM) to about P600 billion by the end of 2026 from roughly P560 billion at the close of last year.
“Right now we’re probably on track to get closer to around P600 billion by the end of the year,” Aguirre said.
“So of course, it’s the last; we still have one quarter to go, two and a half months to go, so we’re really trying to drive that business hard to be able to get closer to around P600 billion,” he added.
NIÑA MYKA PAULINE ARCEO
