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PENSION
fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) reported
a 20 percent growth in net operating revenues from
January to September this year to P35 billion from P29.2
billion a year earlier as a result of higher returns
from local investments.
In a
statement, state run GSIS said it registered an
improvement of 29.7 percent in revenues from other
investments to P15.3 billion from P11.8 billion. Parts
of these were attributed to revenues of P153.4 million
from domestic investments managed by local fund
managers.
“The
GSIS has been reaping the benefits of the investment
initiatives that we have put in place,” said president
and general manager Winston F. Garcia. “The dynamic
local market has fueled our earnings growth so far,” he
added.
The
pension fund recently commissioned the country’s biggest
lenders, Metrobank, Bank of the Philippine Islands and
BDO-EPCI to manage P6 billion in net investible funds
for a period of three years starting this year.
Meanwhile, gains of P10.4 billion from sales of stocks
were also recorded during the first three quarters of
the year from P756.3 million in the same period last
year. The GSIS has been an active participant in the
local equities market. Among bluechip stocks it has
liquidated so far this year were San Miguel Corp.,
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Ayala Corp.
All
these contributed to the 13.8-percent increase in the
pension funds-gross revenues from January to September,
from P57.4 billion last year to P65.3 billion this year.
Revenues
from insurance also grew 5.9 percent to P36.04 billion
from P34.03 billion, while revenues from loans
receivables increased by 18 percent to P13.31 billion
from P11.28 billion.
Total
assets increased by 5.8 percent to P432.5 billion during
the first nine months of 2007, from P408.8 billion in
the same period last year.
The GSIS
also started to explore investment opportunities abroad
after it awarded the mandates for its $1-billion Global
Investment Program, or GIP, to ING Investment Management
and Credit Agricole Asset Management (Singapore) Ltd.,
while Citibank NA was named global custodian of the
funds.
The
pension fund has set an absolute return requirement of a
floor of 8 percent in annual return on investments (net
of fees) and a ceiling of seven percent on the portfolio
volatility for the fund managers.
“The
GSIS has a continuing obligation to see to it that our
assets will not only perpetually grow, but will be
sufficient to match the contingent and future
liabilities of the GSIS to its members,” Garcia said.
“Thus, there is a need for GSIS to constantly seek
prospective investment areas and strategies, both here
and abroad.”
The GIP
is also consistent with the good investment practices of
pension funds like the California Public Employees’
Retirement System and the California State Teachers’
Retirement System, as well as the direction being taken
by Asian neighbors such as the National Social Security
Fund of China, the Government Pension Fund of Thailand
and the Employees’ Provident Fund of Malaysia. |
