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They are all set to uncork the champagne.
Biz Buzz sources said the union between the asset management unit of Union Bank of the Philippines and ATRAM Trust Corp. (ATC) would be consummated today, creating an entity with assets under management amounting to around P485 billion—an amount that already approximates the total resources of the country’s 11th largest bank.
Within the asset management industry alone, the merger is estimated to create the country’s fifth-largest trust entity.
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Our sources added that the investment agreement between UnionBank and ATR Asset Management Inc. (ATRAM) had been cleared by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in April, paving the way for the signing of the merger deal.
The deal gives UnionBank a 27.5-percent stake in ATRAM, while existing ATRAM shareholders will retain the remaining 72.5 percent. This leads to the unification of Union Bank Investment Management and Trust Corp. and ATC, with the latter as the surviving entity.
Prior to this merger, ATRAM had gobbled up the mutual fund business of First Metro Investment Corp. last year. And back in 2023, when Pru Life UK decided to exit the fund management industry, ATC was likewise there to scoop up the entire fiduciary portfolio ceded by Pru Life UK Asset Management and Trust Corp. but it was a partnership and not a merger transaction.
Suffice to say, ATC is no stranger to bulking up its portfolio beyond organic expansion.
This time, by integrating UnionBank’s digital expertise with ATRAM’s innovative asset management solutions, the parties aim to be a “game changer” in asset management, which has become more and more challenging in a world of “VUCA” or volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.
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UnionBank serves over 15 million banking clients while ATRAM, which has been aggressively pursuing retail investors, has enlisted at least 2 million customers. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
Second term at SEC? Up to BBM, says Aquino
Many have been buzzing about who will succeed Emilio Aquino as the head of the country’s corporate registrar, and while there are a lot of possible candidates, reappointment is also an option.
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But as the end of Aquino’s term as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) draws closer, he says everything will be “up to the boss.”
“I’m just doing my thing,” Aquino, a Rodrigo Duterte appointee who headed the agency’s extension offices in Davao and Zamboanga prior to his appointment to the SEC’s highest seat, told reporters on Tuesday. “I had my time, I had my chance. That’s really up to them. At least we gave our all.”
Indeed, the SEC has so far launched four waves of digital initiatives under the leadership of Aquino, whose seven-year term concludes on June 6.
Aquino will leave the SEC (or not?) with a brand new data center and at least six new digital platforms.
The in-house data center contains the agency’s records, applications and servers that promise to make services faster, more secure and easier to access.
The SEC under Aquino also clinched the Level 3 Philippine Quality Award for his office’s “mastery in quality management.”
“It’s the highest level for a national government agency … that makes us comparable to the best organizations in the world,” Aquino says.
With big shoes to fill, Aquino is hoping that his successor would continue what he started.
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“It would be a waste not to continue,” he says. —Meg J. Adonis
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