BPI Wealth targets 20% AUM growth

THE WEALTH management arm of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) aims to grow its assets under management (AUM) by 20% this year as it looks to increase its customer base, targeting retail consumers and the high-net-worth market.

“In terms of AUM, so as a business, we’re typically looking at about 20% growth in AUM. That’s across private banking segment, institutional segment, and the retail segment,” BPI Wealth President and Chief Executive Officer Maria Theresa D. Marcial said at a briefing on Thursday.

BPI Wealth’s AUMs stood at P1.7 trillion at end-August, representing a 21% market share, while BPI as a whole, or including other legal entities and private banking clients, has AUMs worth P1.9 trillion, she said.

“And then there are other subclasses of published market share: For union investment funds, that’s close to 30% as well. And for mutual funds, that’s over 50% market share,” she added.

BPI Wealth’s AUM growth will be driven by its parent bank’s aggressive drive for customer acquisition.

“We have big goals for the bank in terms of customer acquisition. We have been communicating that we want to reach 50 million customers, and I think that continues to be the goal,” Ms. Marcial said.

BPI has 18 million customers, 1.3 million of which are BPI Wealth customers. Meanwhile, BPI Private Wealth has about 6,000 customers.

Ms. Marcial said the private wealth segment targets to add 1,000 customers by the end of the year and another 1,000 by end-2026.

“The upside is still large because based on a study,… there is a much higher number of high-net-worth and older high-net-worth individuals in the addressable market for the Philippines. And we’ve only barely touched that surface.”

BPI Wealth is also focusing on the retail segment to grow its customer base, she said as the bank on Thursday launched its Wealth Wellness Month campaign.

“Our focus really is on the retail segment. Because with all of this that we’re doing, this Wealth Wellness Month, it’s really to target retail investors and to want to help them to grow their investments and have that mindset of saving and investing and reaching more Filipinos to think about goals-based investing approach.”

BPI’s net income increased by 7.02% year on year to P16.44 billion in the second quarter, bringing its six-month profit to P32.96 billion, up by 7.83%.

Its shares climbed by 30 centavos or 0.27% to end at P112.30 each on Thursday. — A.M.C. Sy