Banks’ trust assets up 8% in 2021 (Sabong News)
Author
Lee C. Chipongian
Date
MARCH 13 2022
The banking sector’s trust holdings went up to P3.71 trillion in 2021, up by 8.19 percent compared to 2020’s P3.43 trillion, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The 46 universal and commercial banks accounted for P3.68 trillion of the total, while the 46 thrift banks had P28 billion. The big banks’ trust holdings increased from P3.40 billion in 2020, while the smaller savings banks’ trust assets have decreased from P31.63 billion.
The banking system’s net financial assets last year rose 10.65 percent to P2.39 trillion versus P2.16 trillion while net loans went up to P73.50 billion or by 27.49 percent from P57.65 billion in 2020.
Deposits in banks, meantime, also increased to P901.94 billion from P885.36 billion while cash and due from banks fell to P332 billion from P342 billion.
Last year, bank’s trust accountabilities totalled P1.76 trillion, higher by 6.66 percent from 2020’s P1.66 trillion. Of trust accountabilities, P918.07 billion are
unit investment trust funds (UITFs) and P1.51 trillion are agency accounts which was up from P1.36 trillion previously.
UITF holdings in 2021 was also higher than what was reported in 2020 of P839.27 billion.
The BSP has been changing the regulatory framework for trust, investment management and other fiduciary accounts, especially UITF rules.
The BSP is proposing to amend the UITF creation, its plan rules, external audit and the reinvestments of the unit income of the distributing fund. While expanding requirements and qualifications, the regulator also wants to streamline a trust entity’s application, especially if applying for the first time for a UITF such as fixed income fund, multi-asset fund, equity fund, fund-of-funds, feeder fund, multi-class fund, and distributing fund.
