ALFM eyes 14% growth in ‘10

MANILA, July 16 (PNA) -– The Bank of Philippine Island's (BPI) ALFM Family of Funds is looking at 14 percent growth in total assets under management for 2010.

ALFM president Adelbert Legasto, in a briefing Thursday, said funds under their care reached P460-470 billion in 2009, bulk of which are institutional funds while P34 billion is mutual funds.

He said last year was "an extremely difficult period" due to the global economic downturn that put investors' confidence "deeply shaken."

He, on the other hand, noted that latest global and domestic developments show signs that "slowly turning the corner."

"While this is a welcome relief, there's consensus that the recovery remains fragile and modest. It is, however, notable that the Philippines was one of the few countries that managed to dodge the recession, and was better placed than most of its Asian neighbors," he said.

The brighter economic prospects is what ALFM leans on for its growth projection for this year.

"ALFM Family of Funds continued to achieve positive returns for investors while keeping risks appropriately managed and minimized," Legasto said.

Relatively, BPI Investment Management Inc. president Fernando Sison, during the same briefing, said their shareholders approved during its meeting earlier in the day the lowering of initial investment for their peso bond fund to P5,000 from P50,000.

Also, initial investment for the dollar bond fund and the euro bond fund was lowered by half to US$ 500 from US$ 1,000 previously.

"This is aimed at encouraging more investors to put their money in safe investment products and giving them access to these products," Sison added. (PNA)