Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) saw a surge in unit invest trust fund (UITF) clients amid the ongoing economic and health crises following the digitalization of the application process.
As of July, the Yuchengco-led bank said that UITF online clients rose by more than sevenfold.
This translates to UITF online investment volume rising by 294 percent year-to-date, RCBC said.
Meanwhile, the UITF assets under management in all channels climbed by 56.98 percent as of July 2020 year-on-year. “The pandemic has definitely increased the propensity of our clients to save and invest and our online platform has made it easier for them to do that,” RCBC Head of Trust and Investments Group Robert Rol Richard Raymond B. Ramos said.
The bank said that the end-to-end process of its UITF module in RCBC Banking Online covered the enrolment of new accounts, placements, and redemptions.
Meanwhile, Rizal Balanced Fund (RBF) was recently recognized as the Best Balanced (Peso) Fund by the Chartered Financial Analyst Society Philippines. RBF is a UITF managed by RCBC’s Trust and Investment Group. It is considered as one of the “most affordable and accessible investment products available in the market.”
Last month, London-based financial publication Global Economics Limited awarded RCBC as the country’s “Most Innovative Internet Banking Service Provider.” This, after being named as the Philippines’ “Best Digital Bank” by Hong Kong-based institutional investment magazine Alpha Southeast Asia.
“From bricks to clicks, through the years RCBC has been among the industry’s leaders in shaping what we now know as the digital today,” said Angelito M. Villanueva, executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer of RCBC.
RCBC saw its net income in the first half climb by 17 percent to P3.1 billion from P2.66 billion last year because of higher trading gains, which surged by 80.3 percent to P5.9 billion. As of end-June, total assets and capital stood at P718.75 billion and P84.44 billion, respectively.
