BMW Daily - Bankers Institute of the Philippines

BAIPHIL
MARKET WATCH
06 Apr
2016
Legend
Improvement / Up
Deterioration / Down
No Movement
FINANCIAL MARKETS AT A GLANCE
PHILIPPINES
ASIA-PACIFIC
REST OF THE
WORLD
Financial Rates
USD/PHP
Current
46.2500
Stock Index
Previous
46.1000
30-D PDST-R1
91-D PDST-R1
180-D PDST-R1
1-Y PDST-R1
10-Y PDST-R1
2.6150%
1.7933%
1.9993%
2.2900%
4.7500%
2.6150%
1.7717%
1.9870%
2.0000%
4.7467%
30-D PDST-R2
91-D PDST-R2
180-D PDST-R2
1-Y PDST-R2
10-Y PDST-R2
2.6150%
1.7933%
1.9993%
2.1427%
4.7500%
2.6150%
1.7717%
1.9870%
2.0217%
4.7467%
Stock Index
NIKKEI
HANG SENG
SHANGHAI
STRAITS
SET
JAKARTA
Current
15,732.82
20,177.00
3,053.38
2,800.92
1,373.59
4,858.07
Previous
16,123.27
20,499.92
3,008.98
2,835.35
1,400.27
4,850.18
Stock Index
FTSEuro First 300
FTSE 100
DAX
CAC 40
DOW JONES
S&P 500
NASDAQ
Current
1,288.44
6,091.23
9,563.36
4,250.28
17,603.32
2,045.17
4,843.93
Previous
1,312.68
6,164.72
9,822.08
4,345.22
17,737.00
2,066.13
4,891.79
PSEi
Market Cap (Php Trillion)
Total Value (Php Billion)
PSEi Performers
Current
7,219.23
11.572
5.785
Closing
Previous
7,254.53
11.627
5.168
% Change
Top Gainers
2,060.00
1,930.00
230.00
+ 1.98
+ 1.79
+ 1.32
4.75
21.75
66.00
- 4.81
- 2.68
- 2.58
Currency Exchange
USD/JPY
USD/HKD
USD/CNY
USD/SGD
USD/THB
USD/IDR
Current
110.6100
7.7562
6.4746
1.3574
35.3100
13,215.00
Previous
111.2600
7.7539
6.4818
1.3528
35.2560
13,190.00
Various
EUR/USD
GBP/USD
Gold Spot (USD/oz)
Brent Crude(USD/bbl)
3-M US Treasury Yield
10-Y US Treasury Yield
30-Y US Treasury Yield
Current
1.1381
1.4153
1,231.40
37.93
0.22%
1.73%
2.55%
Previous
1.1387
1.4263
1,215.90
37.58
0.18%
1.78%
2.61%
Globe Telecomms
PLDT
Jollibee Food Corporation
Top Losers
Bloomberry Resorts
First Gen Corporation
Intl Container Terminal
PHILIPPINES
 The local equities market retreated amid profit taking following the decline in oil prices overnight. The PSEi index lost 35.30 basis
points or -0.49%, closing at 7,219.23. Most of the sectors ended in red led by the property (-1.16%), mining and oil (-0.85%) and holding
firms (-0.77%). Market breadth was negative with 124 declines and 63 advances while 42 were unchanged. Total value turnover is at
Php5.78 billion. Foreigners were net sellers at Php406.68 million.
 The Peso traded flat once again today, barely depreciating as the return of foreign buying interest in local financial market s
weighed on the greenback. Also, weak US factory and durable goods orders for February partly offset the robust US employment,
manufacturing and consumer sentiment data from last week. The USD/PHP pair rose 16 centavos, or +0.35%, to close today's trading at
the 46.26 level.
 On the local fixed income space, prices of government securities moved sideways as the March inflation figure met consensus
estimates of a 1.1% increase YoY. Yields on average rose by a marginal 0.4 basis points as the short-end of the curve went up by 3.9
basis points, while the belly and long-end of the curve fell by 1.1 and 3.1 basis points, respectively.
 The Bureau of the Treasury on Monday partially awarded the bills it auctioned as yields rose across the board. A total of P16.35
billion in treasury bills was sold out of the P20 billion on offer. The Treasury sold only P2.35 billion of the P6-billion offering for 182day bills, although tenders fell short at only P5.4 billion. The average rate for the debt paper maturing on Oct. 5 increased to 1.758 percent
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
Page 1 of 15
from 1.508 percent during the previous auction. For the benchmark 91-day treasury bills, P8 billion was accepted out of the P14.31 billion
tendered. The yield for the IOUs maturing on July 6 rose to 1.551 percent from 1.513 percent last month. As for the 364-day bills, investors
tendered P8.02 billion for the P6-billion offering. The yield for the debt paper maturing on April 5 next year climbed to 1.779 percent from
1.678 percent at last month’s auction. National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan told reporters that Monday’s auction had “an odd result.” With
regards the undersubscribed auction for 182-day bills, Tan said “apparently the money was not that much for various reasons,” hence the
preference for 91- or 364-day debt paper. Separately, Tan said finance officials would embark on a non-deal roadshow in London later this
week. “This is the second leg of our roadshow. It is important that we consult with our investors based in London given the developments
ongoing in the Philippines, particular on the election and the economy,” Tan explained. Last month, Tan led the Boston and Los Angeles
legs of the government’s non-deal roadshow in the United States, which also visited New York. He said 15-18 investor-companies were
expected to attend the London roadshow on top of at least 50 conference participants. During the US roadshow in March, Philippine
officials met with top executives of 18 US-based asset management firms.
 The country’s economic growth should have picked up last quarter from the 5% year-ago pace as spending related to the May 9
national elections added to the usual consumption boost, the government’s chief socioeconomic planner told reporters
yesterday. Gross domestic product (GDP) “certainly” expanded over 5% given the additional spur from election spending, said Emmanuel
F. Esguerra, director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority. “It is given [because] 2016 is an election year. There is
that additional boost to spending, whether we like it or not,” he said. The government is scheduled to report first-quarter growth data on
May 19. The economy expanded 5% in 2015’s first three months -- revised from a 5.2% initial estimate -- according to latest available data
from the Philippine Statistics Authority. Asked whether first-quarter GDP growth could have accelerated from the pace logged in 2015’s
comparable three months, Mr. Esguerra replied: “Certainly, parang ang dali... ma-exceed (It seems it would be easy to exceed) ‘yung
5.2%.” Both lower-than-programmed state spending and an export slump weighed on economic output in 2015’s first quarter. But steady
improvement in government expenditures -- coupled with steadily robust household consumption that contributes up to 70% to national
output -- helped fuel growth to 5.6%, 6.1% and 6.3% in succeeding quarters, resulting in a 5.8% full-year expansion that was, nevertheless,
still slower than 2014’s 6.1%. “In addition to what is [already] there, mayroon pang additional [from election spending] and previous studies
have shown that is what -- at most 1 [percentage point], at least 0.5 [of a percentage point] -- magkakaiba ang estimates (vary),” Mr.
Esguerra said. Sona Shrestha, principal country economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), had earlier said mass media and
transportation sectors are key businesses that are expected to benefit from the additional spending ahead of elections. “Syempre may
multiplier effects ‘yun: there will be people who will get some income there [and] will be spending, so that adds to the [consumption]
component,” Mr. Esguerra explained. He also cited ongoing public infrastructure projects. Major ones under the government’s publicprivate partnership (PPP) flagship -- most of which are worth billions of pesos -- have been exempted from the election ban on public
works. So far, contracts for 12 PPP projects worth a total of P217.4 billion have been awarded since the infrastructure flagship was
launched in the third quarter of 2010. Of the P3.002-trillion national budget for this year, the government has allocated P760 billion -equivalent to 5% of GDP -- for infrastructure work. The interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee expects GDP to expand
6.8-7.8% this year, revised from a 7-8% previous target in the face of global headwinds like China’s slowing economic growth and impact
from a slump in global oil prices. Last week, ADB cut its Philippine projection to 6% from 6.3% previously due to a “highly uncertain”
external environment. Still, Philippine economic growth is expected to outpace averages in the next two years for “developi ng Asia” and
Southeast Asia itself, according to the regional lender’s regular report.
 Prices of goods and services went up a notch in March due to higher prices in goods and services, the Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday. Inflation increased by 1.1 percent last month from 0.9 percent in February and 2.4 percent in the
same month last year, slower but still within market expectations and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas forecast of 0.6-1.4 percent. "The
growth was due to higher annual increments noted in the indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages; alcoholic beverages and tobacco;
recreation and culture; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services," the PSA said. In a separate statement, the Nati onal
Economic Development Authority (NEDA) noted food items went up by 1.6 percent in March from 1.5 percent the month prior – mainly due
to increases in meat (1.2 percent from 0.9 percent), fish (2.8 percent from 2.3 percent), milk, cheese, and eggs (1.2 percent from 1.1
percent). Despite the El Niño, rice prices remain lower than the previous year (-1.7 percent in March from -2.0 percent in February) and
continue to decline since October 2015, Socioeconomic Planning chief Emmanuel Esguerra noted. “Aware of El Niño, government h as put
in place a program to mitigate the impact of drought. We need to ensure adequate supply of food and provide assistance to aff ected
farmers,” Esguerra said. Vegetable prices declined by 2.9 percent in March with a total decline of 7.8 percent since spiking in January.
 Rice prices have been declining since October 2015 even though the country has been going through the ravages of El Niño,
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Emmanuel Esguerra said on Tuesday. “While drought usually entails low production leading to
high agricultural product prices, inflation data show that prices of food, particularly rice, have been low and stable in the past months,” he
said during a press briefing with other agencies that form part of the El Niño Task Force. He said rice prices were down by 1.7 percent in
March from the previous year, then by 2.0 percent from February, noting that prices of the commodity have been softening sinc e October
2015. Renan Dalisay, administrator of the National Food Administration (NFA), said during the same briefing the supply of has been stable
despite the impact of El Niño. As of Tuesday, the rice buffer stock is good for 34 days nationwide. “Stable po ang presyo ng bigas. In fact,
bumababa kasi stable po ang supply,” he said. Dalisay noted the adequate supply came on the heels of preparations based on the 1998
El Niño scenario when supply dropped 24 percent drop. The rains in November and December also helped a lot, since farmers wer e able
to plant rice and harvest by January to February. “Sa aming records, nasa 10 percent na lang [ang bagsak ng rice supply]. Kung 24
percent ang pinaghandaan mo, at 10 percent pa lang iyong nagiging bawas doon sa aming pinaghandaan, nagiging enough buffer st ock
po ito,” he said. Dalisay pointed out that the country has not yet imported any rice for 2016. “Hanggang ngayon po, this year, hindi pa po
tayo nag-aangkat. Ang dumating lang po dito, end of March, is part ng 750,000 na part ng na-contract last year. Iyong 250,000 arrived last
quarter; 500,000 arrived first quarter of 2016,” he said. Agriculture Undersecretary for Operations, Marketing, and Agribusiness Emerson
Palad said only 225,272 metric tons (MT) of rice were lost in the first quarter of 2016. The expectation was900,000 MT. The intensity of the
El Niño has on the wane starting April, said Dr. Vicente Malano said, officer in charge of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). However, the phenomenon will be felt until third week of May. Shortly thereafter, the
rainy season will begin, Malano added.
 The Philippines lost P6.5 billion worth of crops in the first quarter of 2016, an Agriculture official said Tuesday. In a pr ess
briefing on the government’s El Niño Task Force, Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary for Operations Emerson Palad
revealed the latest data on crop damage due to El Niño. The top three provinces that suffered the most damage were: Region X –
P2.462 billion; Region VI – P1.9 billion; and Region XII – P748 million. Last year, from February to December, the country suffered P3.4
billion in crop damage, Palad noted. While the numbers are definitely lower-than-expected, the Agriculture official clarified that the figures
are now undergoing validation. “If we compare this with 2010 and the previous El Niño, this is much less. In 2010, I think we had a strong
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
Page 2 of 15
El Niño as well,” he said. To prove his point, he shared the various data on devastation caused by El Niño in terms of agric ulture lands:
1997-1998 – 677,441 hectares; 2010 – 555,102 hectares; and February 2015-April 2, 2016 - 373,494 hectares. Corn production was the
most affected by El Niño, followed by the rice, even if the damage was lower than expected, Palad said. The department is pr ojecting
500,000 metric tons (MT) of corn has been damaged, but the actual damage so far at 199,572 MT for the first quarter of 2016. Palad noted
900,000 MT of rice crops were expected to have been lost, but the actual numbers came in so far at 225,272 MT.
 Business leaders are considering recommending ways to promote investments in non-coal-fueled power plants besides the
Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) incentives. Ernesto B. Pantangco, who leads the energy committee of the Management Association of the
Philippines (MAP), said on the sidelines of an energy forum that carbon pricing and other ways of accounting for the “true cost” of coal
power were under study. Accounting for the unseen costs of coal power, such as its link to respiratory problems in citizens ( which may use
up public health subsidies), has been pushed by various sectors as a way to lessen the price gap with the currently more expensive
renewable energy (RE) sources such as the sun, wind, biomass, water and ocean waves. Asked whether the National Renewable En ergy
Board (NREB), an advisory body that helps the government promote RE development, would make similar recommendations, Pantangco
said that NREB’s mandate was only to promote RE and not necessarily to involve itself in non-RE technologies. “We can do that in MAP.
In fact we are looking into it,” he said, referring to proposals for so-called carbon pricing and other ways to make RE development more
competitive besides offering FIT and other incentives. Carbon pricing reflects values on the negative impact of coal power on health and
environment, among others, and adds these to the price of coal power generation in order to show the so-called true cost of coal usage.
This was proposed by environmental groups to show how RE is actually cheaper in the long run since its pric e is seen to be stable over
time and it has little carbon footprint. Coal, on the other hand, is a finite resource and is linked to health problems and environmental
pollution. The term is not new to energy stakeholders and business groups since it has been brought up time and again. Shell Philippines
country chair Edgar Chua had said that carbon pricing was one way in which the energy sector, backed by the government, could meet
rising energy demand while also reducing greenhouse gases. There must be a shift, he said, from finite resources such as coal to more
sustainable resources. It remains to be seen, however, whether the Department of Energy (DOE) would be open to such a scheme.
Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada had said in a recent press briefing that the “true cost” of carbon was already reflected in the power
generation cost, a crucial figure for investors because power offtakers such as Meralco and direct customers such as large manufacturing
firms often base their power supply purchases on the price of energy output offered by a power plant operator.
 As the huge leak on Sunday (April 3) of 11.5 million tax documents exposed the secret offshore dealings of aides to Russian
President Vladimir Putin, world leaders and celebrities, an earlier data dump also examined by dozens of investigative media
groups around the world had turned up interesting entries. Three sons of Imee Marcos, namely, Ferdinand Richard Michael Marcos
Manotoc, Fernando Martin “Borgy” Marcos Manotoc, and Matthew Joseph Marcos Manotoc, who in 2014 passed the Philippine bar exams
and expressed his plan to join politics, are listed in an exposé by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). In the
more recent April 3 data dump, an investigation into the documents by more than 100 media groups, described as one of the largest such
probes in history, revealed the hidden offshore dealings in the assets of around 140 political figures -- including 12 current or former heads
of state. The families of some of China’s top communist brass -- including President Xi Jinping -- used offshore tax havens to conceal their
fortunes, the treasure trove of leaked documents has revealed, an update provided by AFP has indicated. At least eight current or former
members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the ruling Communist Party’s most powerful body, have been implicated, highlighting the
hot-button issue of wealth among China’s ruling elite. The eight are among 140 political figures around the world alleged to have links to
offshore accounts, after an investigation into the leak of 11.5 million documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. They
include Xi’s brother-in-law Deng Jiagui, who in 2009 -- when his famous relation was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee but
not yet president -- set up two British Virgin Islands companies. Xi has been dogged by foreign media reports of great family wealth. The
claims are ignored by mainstream Chinese outlets, and their publication on the Internet in China is suppressed. A report by Agence
France-Presse said the vast stash of records was obtained from an anonymous source by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared
with media worldwide by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The documents, from around 214,000 offshore entities,
came from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm with offices in more than 35 countries. Though most of the alleged dealings are
said by the ICIJ to be legal, they are likely to have a serious political impact on many of those named. ICIJ director Gerard Ryle said the
documents covered the day-to-day business at Mossack Fonseca over the past 40 years. “I think the leak will prove to be probably the
biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken because of the extent of the documents,” he said. A search of the ICIJ database reveals
some 572 Filipino “officers and master clients” cited in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists expose on offshore
holdings, among them, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee R. Marcos and her three sons, as well as Senator Joseph Victor “JV” G. Ejercito. The
ICIJ report exposed offshore holdings of more than 214,000 offshore entities, connected to people in more than 200 countries and
territories, noting that major banks have driven the creation of hard-to-trace companies in offshore havens. According to ICIJ’s glossary of
terms, an officer is “a person or company who plays a role in an offshore entity,” while a master client is “often an intermediary or gobetween who helps a client set up an offshore entity.” Imee Marcos is the eldest daughter of the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr.
She is sister to Senator and vice-presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. In the course of a 20-year rule, including a
dictatorship under martial law for almost nine years, the Marcoses been accused of amassing ill-gotten wealth. In 2014, the Philippine
government announced that it has recovered more than $29 million from the Swiss accounts of the late dictator. In 2003, the Supreme
Court ruled that the Marcos wealth, estimated to be between $5 billion and $20 billion, is in excess of their total legal inc ome of around
$304,000 from 1965 to 1986 and is presumed to be ill-gotten. More than 200 civil cases for recovery and forfeiture of ill-gotten assets
amounting to at least P30 billion have been filed against the Marcos family, their cronies, and associates. Before one can access the full
report, ICIJ noted that there are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts. “We do not intend to suggest or imply that any persons,
companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly,” it said.
However, the leaked data from 1977 to 2015 “allows a never-before-seen view inside the offshore world -- providing a day-to-day, decadeby-decade look at how dark money flows through the global financial system, breeding crime and stripping national treasuries of tax
revenues.” “The documents show that banks, law firms, and other offshore players have often failed to follow legal requirements that they
make sure their clients are not involved in criminal enterprises, tax dodging, or political corruption,” ICIJ said. The leak ed records were
reviewed by a team of more than 370 journalists from 76 countries.
 Officials of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) on Tuesday said they are now willing to discuss the detailed
transactions of the four accounts at its Jupiter Street branch, after these were found to be fake. "We will comply," RCBC Lead and
Regulatory Affairs Head Maria Cecilia Fernandez-Estavillo told the Senate blue ribbon committee. Senator Benigno "Bam" A. Aquino IV
presented before the committee certifications from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) s aying that the identification cards used to open
the four RCBC accounts were fake. To recall, four accounts were opened under the names of Michael F. Cruz, Jessie C. Lagrosas , Alfred
S. Vergara, and Enrico T. Vasquez. These accounts were supposedly the initial storing grounds for some of the $81 million stolen from the
Bangladesh Bank account with the US Federal Reserve in New York. After being certified to be fake, RCBC said it was now willi ng to waive
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
Page 3 of 15
the bank secrecy law and will open to the public the transaction details under these accounts.
 Solaire Resort and Casino said Tuesday it will only return to authorities P107 million believed to be part of the $81 million stolen
from Bangladesh Bank that was laundered in the Philippines if there is a court order for them to do so. "We have frozen P107
million. We are waiting for the court order on what to do with them," said Solaire legal counsel Benny Tan when asked by Senator Paolo
Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV how much money it could return to Bangladesh. Specifically, Solaire has frozen P107.35 million in chips used
by casino high roller Ding Zhizhe, one of the two Chinese men tagged by casino junket operator Kim Wong as masterminds in the bank
heist. The other Chinese man is Gao Shu Hua. Solaire also said it confiscated various denominations of cash from the rooms used by
Ding's group amounting to P1,347,069. A civil forfeiture case has to be filed in court to begin the recovery of the funds in Solaire's
possession. Anti-Money Laundering Council Executive Director Julia Bacay-Abad promised to file the forfeiture cases next week. So far,
only $5.5 million of the $81-million loot was turned over to the AMLC for safekeeping at the central bank's vault. The money was returned
by Wong, who had said he was unaware that the funds came from illegal sources.
 Casino junket operator Kim Wong, through his lawyers, on Monday returned P38.28 million in stolen money from Bangladesh’s
central bank, but the turnover hit a slight snag when authorities found two fake P500 bills amid the mountains of cash. Wong’s
camp said it would return a third tranche, amounting to P450 million, in 15 to 30 days. Last week, it turned over $4.63 million to the AntiMoney Laundering Council (AMLC) office in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) complex in Manila. AMLC Executive Director Julia
Bacay-Abad said two counterfeit bills were found during the counting of P38.28 million that started at 11 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m. Abad
and Wong’s lawyer, Victor Fernandez, said lawyer Inocencio Ferrer Jr. had to shell out P1,000 to replace the fake banknotes. The P38.28
million was in denominations of P500 and P1,000, placed in a trolley bag, Abad said. The BSP cash department assisted in counting the
money using machines that can detect fake banknotes. The turnover was witnessed by officials of AMLC, Bangladesh Bank (BB) and
Bangladesh’s embassy in the Philippines. AMLC issued an acknowledgment receipt for the amount to be turned over to Bangladesh Bank.
The money will be stored at the BSP’s vault for safekeeping, while the AMLC is making arrangements with the Bangladeshi government for
its return, Abad said. The P38.28 million “represented the funds abandoned by Gao Shuhua in Eastern Hawaii Leisure Co. Ltd. and/or
Midas Casino,” Fernandez said. Wong is a stockholder of Eastern Hawaii. Abad said the AMLC was informed that Wong’s camp would
return the additional money on Monday morning, after Ferrer called up BSP Deputy Governor Vicente Aquino before 10 a.m. to inform him
that they would bring the money to the AMLC. In a letter to AMLC Chair Amando M. Tetangco Jr., Wong’s lawyers said, “(W)e reiterate
that this token of utmost sincerity and effort to cooperate and retrieve the funds abandoned by Gao Shuhua in [Eastern Hawaii] and/or
Midas Casino should not be interpreted or construed, directly or indirectly, as admission by EHL or Kam Sin Wing [Kim Wong] of any guilt ,
or participation in, or complicity to the offense for which Kim Wong is being charged by AMLC or any suit/s, case/s or proceeding/s relating
to or in connection with the subject matter of the aforementioned hearing or investigation.” Fernandez said it would take 15 to 30 days to
raise some more funds before Wong could return another P450 million that was earlier borrowed by Gao. “According to Wong, he was
even willing to sell properties to be able to raise the necessary money,” he said. The lawyer said Wong would attend today’s (Tuesday)
Senate hearing “because he wants to finish this thing as soon as possible.” Abad reiterated that “as far as AMLC is concerned, a bigger
amount of money should be recovered from their groups” as “there’s still much to be returned.” “The amount of $81 million has been stolen
from Bangladesh Bank, was remitted or received by these groups. So, we have to recover the same amount of money,” she said. She
confirmed reports that AMLC had asked Wong’s camp to directly turn over the money to Bangladesh Bank “because this money belongs to
the Bangladesh government.” “AMLC and BSP’s participation is to facilitate the return of the money to the Bangladesh government. We
are just safekeeping the money while the Bangladesh government is making the necessary arrangement to the transfer of the mon ey to
their country,” she said. Earlier, the turnover hit an impasse at the AMLC office. Sources said AMLC officials insisted that the P38.28
million be given directly to the Bangladesh ambassador to the Philippines. Wong’s counsels maintained that, in accordance with the
Senate blue ribbon committee’s mandate, the funds “abandoned” by Gao in Eastern Hawaii should be turned over to the AMLC/BSP for
“safekeeping.” “We have no mandate to turn it over to the Bangladesh government. Our client, Mr. Kim Wong, has no business s peaking
directly with the Bangladeshis. Our clear understanding is that after turning over the funds to AMLC ‘for safekeeping’, its disposition should
be subject to a government-to-government agreement,” Fernandez said. To help the Bangladesh Embassy in Manila beef up efforts to
recover the money stolen by cyberthieves, two officials of Bangladesh Bank went to the Philippines. “Our envoy is working hard to recover
the funds,” said BB spokesperson Subhankar Saha. “The two BB officials will assist him,” Saha told reporters after a meeting of the
coordination council of regulators at the BB headquarters in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
 Business and accounting guru Washington Sycip Monday said the money laundering case that has now become a global
spectacle has not curbed foreign investors’ appetite on the Philippines. He noted that a bancassurance partnership between
Germany’s biggest insurance firm Allianz and the 20-percent buy-in of Japanese banking giant Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in Security Bank
were still consummated despite the controversy on the entry of dirty money to the banking system that ended up in the local casinos. “That
clearly shows foreign investments have not been affected,” Sycip said. Sycip added that he had great respect for the Anti-Money
Laundering Council (AMLC) and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. “It’s not only for what he has done in the
Philippines but compared to any other central bank governor, he has done a fantastic job,” he said. Asked whether he would s upport calls
to ease the bank secrecy law to better combat money laundering, Sycip said he would advocate for “whatever Tetangco feels is good for
the country because he has done so well for us now.” Sycip said that he was also hoping that the Filipino nation would elect an “honest”
president this May in order to continue attracting foreign investments. Sycip, who is turning 95 this year and still advises many of the
country’s biggest corporations long after retiring from local accounting giant SGV that he co-founded, hasn’t picked any presidential
candidate to support. The SGV founder said he already knew Sen. Grace Poe and her father Fernando Poe Jr., who had consulted him
when he ran for president two elections ago. Sycip said he also knew Mar Roxas very well. He noted that he would like to meet Davao City
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to discuss his advocacy and education agenda. “I’d like to meet Duterte. I recently got an inquiry from Duterte
through his intermediary,” he said. As a personal advocacy, Sycip has set aside all the funds he could afford—totalling $1 million to date—
to help educate poor people, working with the likes of Synergeia Foundation and the microfinance group Card Inc. led by Jaime Aristotle
Alip. Typically, for business service firms that expand outside of Manila end up having big operations in Cebu. But in the case of SGV, he
said SGV now had a bigger office in Davao than in Cebu. “They say that the businessmen in Davao are all for Duterte and if they are
caught speeding, they have to pay (fine for violating speed limit),” he said. As far as leadership was concerned, Sycip said that based on
the experience of Singapore under the city-state’s former President Lee Kuan Yew, “western democracy may not be the best for emerging
market countries.” “We have all the freedoms we might say but in terms of per capita income everyone has passed us except Laos and
Cambodia. Even Vietnam will pass us,” he said. Asked whether he thought someone like Duterte could be a Lee Kuan Yew, Sycip —who
personally knew the late Singaporean leader—said the latter was not just tough but likewise very bright. He said he didn’t know much about
Duterte, except that he had a law degree, but hinted he was wary about him declaring he had so many wives and girlfriends. W hen
investors ask him about Philippine elections, Sycip said he would tell people that the local elections were “better” than the US elections,
which he said were harder to understand. “I ask them not to worry about the elections in that sense,” he said. “As long as you have an
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honest President you will get investments,” he said. After the Marcos dictatorship was toppled in 1986, Sycip said Cory Aquino was hers elf
honest but being away for so long, didn’t have enough good people to appoint to her Cabinet. “She wasn’t successful as many of the
people put in her Cabinet didn’t have integrity.” In the case of President Aquino, Sycip said he was not aware of the Presid ent giving in
favors or accepting bribes to approve a project. He said this was “unusual” compared to the stories that had come out before Aquino’s
term, he said. Many of the reforms undertaken during the outgoing administration, he said, would not likely be reversed after the May
elections. However, he said he would wish for more decentralization of power in the country.
 Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc (AAII) is working on securing permits for the P10-billion Davao City bulk water supply project, as the
joint venture between Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) and J.V. Angeles Construction Corp. (JVACC) targets to start construction
by January 2017. AAII General Manager Cirilo Almario III said it usually takes four to five months to get the environmental compliance
certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources(DENR), and six to seven months to secure the lan d
conversion certificate from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). “We are targeting to comply with all the permits, inclu ding minor
[permits], by the end of this year,” said Mr. Almario. The project will tap the Tamugan River, one of the declared pr otected watershed areas
in the city, for a supply of 300 million liters of water per day, guaranteed for 30 years. AAII has an exclusive contract wi th the Davao City
Water District (DCWD) for the project that is planned for operation by 2019. The Tamugan project was an unsolicited proposal presented
by AEV and JVCC in 2013. It was awarded by DCWD in mid-2014 after no counter-bids were submitted during the Swiss challenge. Based
on the agreement between DCWD and AAII, the latter will pay P10 million every year for the first 10 years, with a P5 million increment
every 10 years within the 30-year contract period. Last year, Davao City’s Water Management Council (WMC) issued an endorsement for
the project, while the city council has passed a resolution indicating no objection to amending the local Watershed Code to allow the
company to construct its plant in the Panigan-Tamugan watershed. The Watershed Code prohibits development in the watersheds of the
city. The project will also have a hydropower plant that will be used for the water treatment plant. Meanwhile, the WMC is scheduled to
undertake the long overdue delineation of the Panigan-Tamugan watershed in June this year, according to advocacy group Interface
Development Interventions (IDIS). “The delineation is very important and must be finished as soon as possible so that we will be able to
completely identify the areas that need to be conserved and protected from development as well as those areas set aside for n on-tillage
agricultural and agro-forestry activities,” IDIS Advocacy Coordinator Chinkie Pelino-Golle, who sits in the WMC as a civil society
representative, said. “During the WMC meeting last February 24, 2016, we were told that the DENR technical survey team will only be
available after the (May) elections, so this is why the council has immediately scheduled it for June,” she said. Ms. Pelino-Golle said a
Survey Work Team Plan has already been drafted and members of the team will include surveyors from the City Engineer’s Office, City
Environment and Natural Resources, and the City Planning and Development Office. Some 35,357 hectares of forest land will be covered
by the survey. An initial 18 kilometers along the river was already delineated in 2012.
 Leading consumer and industrial solutions manufacturer Concepcion Industrial Corp. (CIC) and electronics manufacturing house
Ionics EMS Inc. have teamed up to develop a new generation of smart appliances and products using the Internet of things (IoT)
technology. “IOT is the future and it’s strategic that CIC takes the lead in offering solutions to its consumers,” CIC chief executive officer
Raul Joseph Concepcion said during the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ionics on Tuesday. The MOU with I onics
is in line with CIC’s vision to build better lives by using smart solutions in products which will provide comfort and convenience to
consumers, Concepcion said. With IoT technology whereby netizens are globally connected over the social network, any and all objects
such as buildings, equipment, vehicles, home appliances, wearables and other devices will be connected over a spectrum of networks to
communicate, control, manage, detect problems and derive insightful information. “To be able to realize this vision, we are forming a
strategic alliance with Ionics to help us develop and apply the technology to our locally manufactured appliances,” Concepcion said. For
example, he said an IoT-enabled air-conditioning system will be able to adjust its thermostat in response to the human body heat.
Concepcion said this would allow the household or commercial enterprise to unlock savings from the use of energy, as consumpt ion could
go down by 40-60 percent. For instance, he said the air-conditioning system would automatically shut down when nobody is in the room.
The air-conditioning units will have the ability to be controlled by mobile phones to provide real-time energy usage and to automatically
react to changing environmental conditions in real-time. “This is a foundation for us to provide better products,” Concepcion said, adding
that Ionics would provide the hardware needed to develop such smart solutions. Concepcion acknowledged that Internet speed remained
a challenge, especially for consumers, but noted that in an industrial setting, such smart products would be easier to roll out. Ionics chair
Larry Qua said IoT would be a game-changer. “This collaboration brings together two reputable local companies that are both established
in their respective industries, having deep understanding of the local market coupled with unparalleled global experience and expertise,”
Qua said. The same logic goes for smart refrigerators or washing machines. IoT could allow users to better recycle water or save on the
use of detergent. “Developing smart applications for commercial equipment and home appliances for CIC is exciting. It’s akin to assisting
them in future-proofing for the 21st century. Ionics provides hardware expertise on the best sensors, edge computing processors and
communication protocol while IBM offers its edge in IoT infrastructure and bolt on data analysis,” Qua said. CIC expects to come up with
the next-generation products for industrial users in about a year and solutions for consumers in about a year and a half. “IoT is an
emerging trend that will offer CIC new insights into how our products are used, as well as opportunities to build a foundation for new
services that will have a direct impact to the lives of our consumers, and to our environment,” said CIC information and communication
technology information officer Sean Byrne said. Ionics will supply the hardware and likewise handle the maintenance contract and supply
of middle-ware products. However, the actual revenue-sharing model is still in the works. Overall, the next generation products are seen to
help contribute to efforts towards environmental protection. The joint CIC-Ionics partnership is the outcome of the Ionics EMS/IBM codevelopment partnership that started in 2015.
 After striking an amicable settlement deal with the Tanco family-led STI Group over Philippine Women’s University (PWU), a
member of the Benitez clan has vowed to block the decision of the majority to give up key assets of the school. Conrado Benitez
II, who chairs Unlad Resources Development Corp. (the real estate company which owns and holds the assets used by PWU), said in an
email that the reported settlement was “unauthorized” and unfair. He claimed the deal did not have approval of two-thirds of Unlad’s
shareholders and that he himself had not been informed of the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA). Benitez owns 9.5
percent of Unlad and represents 16 percent in person or proxy. Benitez said even if his relatives felt that “bowing down to whatever Tanco
wanted was the easy way out to buy peace,” he would exhaust legal means to block the MOA with STI. Under a peace pact disclosed by
STI last Friday, PWU would remain under the control of the Benitez family, which will, however, cede to STI two pieces of property—the
1.5-hectare land along Edsa in Quezon City where PWU’s basic education arm Jose Abad Santos Memorial School (JASMS) currently
operates and a separate 4-hectare property in Davao. PWU, on the other hand, will retain its Manila campuses on Taft Avenue and Indiana
Street. “How can exchanging assets worth P2 billion for properties worth no more than P750 million be remotely considered a fair deal?
Tanco says he’s also giving us P150 million sukli (change), but this isn’t enough to cover taxes for this resulting dacion en pago
arrangement. Our tax consultants estimate that, because Unlad is a realty company, it will have to be taxed 30 percent of the net value of
the properties, plus 12-percent VAT,” Benitez said. “On top of this, since we are settling the debt of PWU, and not Unlad, the settlement
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will be treated as a donation, for which we will be additionally charged donor’s taxes since PWU is not a PCNC (Philippine Council for NonGovernment Organization Certification)-registered company,” Benitez said. PWU media director Lyca Benitez-Brown, in a phone interview,
said that her brother Conrado—as a minority shareholder of Unlad—had the right to block the deal but stressed that majority of the family
had already voted in favor of the amicable settlement. “We do have two-thirds approval but it has to be ratified by stockholders so there is
a stockholders meeting on April 10,” Brown said. The family’s 101-year-old matriarch Helen Benitez was among those who have given
their imprimatur to this amicable settlement. Brown said the majority had voted for the best interest of the school. “This gives us a fresh
start. If this settlement is ratified, we are going to be debt-free and without an education behemoth like STI to fight. We’re going on our
separate ways amicably and I really feel that is the best direction for the school,” she said. “If you look at the larger picture of where we
want to take the school. We are not real estate developers. We are educators and of course the Benitez family took a hit, we lost assets but
feel that the school is worth it. We put a value to the school far beyond the value of the assets,” she said. Brown said she was sorry that
her brother felt that way. “He felt he had to fight for the value of the assets but majority of the family voted to give up assets to save the
school,” she said.
 Businessman Manuel Villar Jr. is bringing his group’s memorial park business under Golden Haven Memorial Park Inc. to a stock
market debut. Based on a regulatory filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Golden Haven plans to raise as much as P787
million through the sale of 74.117 million new common shares at a maximum price of P10.62 per share. Golden Haven proposed to be
listed on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange. Asian Alliance Investment Corp. was mandated by the Villar group as issue
manager and lead underwriter. Golden Haven intends to use the proceeds to fund its acquisition, growth and expansion strateg ies, expand
existing death care facilities, working capital and other products and services. It is also planning to develop existing memorial parks,
pursue more land acquisition and construct new memorial chapels and crematory facilities within the Golden Haven Las Piñas Park.
Golden Haven was established in 1984, initially operating on a two-hectare lot in Las Piñas. It opened another memorial park in Cebu in
2003, in Cagayan De Oro in 2008, Zamboanga in 2009, (Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno) in Las Piñas in 2011 and Iloilo in 2013. Based
on its website, it plans to open another memorial park in Bulacan. Golden Haven described its parks as “lush with verdant greens and
manicured lawns on rolling terrains” and “dotted with acacia trees that bask in the warmth of the sun” in order to provide “quiet solitude” to
grieving families. Villar is among 11 billionaires from the Philippines who made it to Forbes Magazine’s roster of wealthiest people on the
planet. A real estate magnate and a former senator and presidential aspirant, Villar focused on growing Vista Land & Lifescap es (VLL) after
losing to President Aquino in the 2010 presidential elections. The 65-year-old businessman has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion.
Recently, the Villar group consolidated its shopping mall arm Starmalls with flagship Vista Land & Lifescap es. The memorial park business
under Golden Haven is among the privately held businesses of the group. The Villar family also has retailing businesses (department store
chain AllHome, convenience store chain All Day, fashion store AllShoppe), schools and hospital (VitaCare).
 The local unit of Interflour Group Pte Ltd. of Singapore, one of the largest flour millers in Asia, has tapped a P998 million loan
facility with Banco de Oro Unibank to partly fund the construction of a flour mill in Subic. BDO has agreed to provide a seven-year
loan to the local unit, Mabuhay Interflour Mill Inc. (MIMI), to fund the flour mill in a 5.2-hectare property in Subic Bay Gateway Park Phase
II. The mill will produce 500 metric tons of flour per day but the capacity may be doubled to 1,000 metric tons by 2019. The project, which
is expected to be completed early 2017, will mill wheat into food flour for direct sale to consumers, distributors and retail ers in the country,
as well as for the export market. “The investment of Interflour in the Philippines is a welcome development. BDO supports initiatives by
conglomerates that generate employment opportunities in fast-growing business districts like Subic,” BDO senior vice president and head
of international desks Edward Wenceslao said. With an estimated 25,000 bakeshops operating in the country, Interflour considers the
Philippines as an important market in the region. “We welcome the support of BDO and thank them for the cooperation in working with us
to develop local employment and more affordable flour for the Philippine community in general,” said Interflour chief executive Greg
Harvey. At present, Interflour has nine flour mills in operation — eight in South East Asia and one in Turkey — with a total wheat milling
capacity of 6,500 tons per day. Its entry in the Philippines was established in June 2014 through the signing of a 50-year lease agreement
with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
 Tycoon Andrew Tan-led Megaworld Corp. chalked up a core net profit of P10.4 billion last year, about 10.58 percent higher than
the previous year, excluding large one-time gains. The core net profit took out P181 million in non-recurring gain for 2015. The
comparative level, on the other hand, excluded P12.16 billion in non-recurring gain chalked up in 2014 when property units were
consolidated, the company said in a press statement on Tuesday. Including non-recurring items, net profit last year slid to about P10.58
billion compared to a record-high P21.3 billion in net profit attributable to equity holders of parent firm in 2014. The non-recurring gains that
bloated the comparative net profit in 2014 were a result of the consolidation of real estate companies. Megaworld bought the 49.2 percent
stake in Global Estate Resorts Inc. (GERI) held by parent firm Alliance Global Group Inc., initially raising its interest to 74.96 percent but
eventually hiking this stake further to 80.4 percent after the tender offer to minority shareholders. On a recurring basis, Megaworld’s core
profit breached the P10-billion mark for the first time in 2015. “We already have a strong roster of townships across Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao that are backed by adequate landbanking and carefully-thought masterplans. We have already mastered the art of township
development. What we want to put focus on now is how to further grow our rental portfolio, which is integral to being a towns hip developer.
Malls and offices are key components of an urban township,“ said Francis Canuto, chief finance officer at Megaworld. Megaworld’s
consolidated revenues, excluding non-recurring gains, grew by 9.37 percent year-on-year in 2015 to P44.81-billion. The company reported
that each of its core businesses – residential, rental and hotel operations – hit double-digit growth in 2015. Megaworld’s leasing business
has been the fastest growing business segment in 2015, as rental income expanded by 23.46 percent. Leasing income from malls,
commercial centers, and offices reached P8.73 billion in 2015.
 Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corp. (AXA Philippines), the life insurance arm of the Metrobank group, has completed its 100
percent acquisition of the group’s non-life insurance business Charter Ping An Insurance Corp. AXA – a joint venture between
conglomerate GT Capital/First Metro group and France-based AXA Group – first announced its intention to purchase the non-life insurance
company from GT Capital last November. “The purchase of Charter Ping An allows us to complete our proposition to offer a full spectrum
of financial protection to all our customers,” Rahul Hora, president and CEO of AXA Philippines said in a press statement on Tuesday.
“Customers can now be well-protected across all stages of their life journey, with AXA providing a comprehensive suite of products be it in
life insurance, savings and investment, health coverage, or property and casualty insurance. We will now focus our efforts on finding
opportunities to synergize the operations in both life and non-life insurance,” he added. “W e look forward to combining our local know-how
with the global expertise of AXA in the non-life insurance business,” shared Mel Mallillin, president of Charter Ping An. “We see a lot of
opportunities for growth in our industry, and with our combined effort, we are confident about a very successful future.”
 Tycoon Andrew Tan-led Emperador Inc., the world’s largest brandy company, boosted its net profit last year by 12.2 percent to
P6.96 billion as the acquisition of Scottish whisky maker Whyte & Mackay boosted revenues. Total revenues grew by 36.4 percent
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to P43.64 billion in 2015 as Whyte & Mackay’s full year results were consolidated this year. On the other hand, Emperador exp erienced
soft volume locally during the year, the company said in a regulatory filing. Emperador made the highest quarterly net income in the fourth
quarter of 2015, amounting to P2.26 billion, showing a 38 percent year-on-year increase. The fourth quarter of 2015 also marked a
significant milestone in Emperador’s history as an agreement with Beam Suntory Inc. was reached to buy Fundador – Philippines’ bestselling premium brandy and an iconic brand for more than 150 years. The purchase also included other Spanish assets like Terr y
Centenario, Spain’s number one selling brandy; Tres Cepas, the number one brandy in Equatorial Guinea; and Harveys, the number one
selling sherry wine in the United Kingdom. The turnover of the Spanish assets recently occurred early this month,” Emperador chair
Andrew Tan said. Emperador Inc. president W inston Co said: “This recent development truly marks an epoch in Emperador’s history. The
long-term potential of our brandy business is more compelling than ever. We have become even more global.” In 2015, total costs and
expenses went up by 47.2 percent to P35.19 billion primarily due to the operations of Whyte & Mackay that were consolidated beginning
November 2014. Gross profit improved by 23.8 percent to P13.68 billion last year. Emperador’s gross profit rate for 2015 was up at 39
percent as compared to 37 percent a year ago, which was attributed to cost efficiencies. Whyte & Mackay had a relatively low gross margin
which was at 19.7 percent in 2015.
 Broadcast television rivals GMA Network Inc. and ABS-CBN Corp. again claimed the lead in national TV ratings for March 2016,
citing data from different third-party research companies. GMA said in a statement that based on National Urban Television Audience
Measurement (NUTAM) ratings, it had a 36.6- percent household audience share, edging out ABS-CBN’s 36.1 percent and TV5’s 8.2
percent. GMA gets its data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement. ABS-CBN, which uses data from Kantar Media, said it got a national
audience share of 44 percent for combined urban and rural homes against GMA’s 35 percent, a separate statement showed. GMA
credited its lead to further gains in its Mega Manila and Urban Luzon strongholds. The two areas account for 77 and 60 percent of all urban
TV households in the country. In Urban Luzon, GMA said it got a 41.5-percent of the market, against 31 percent for ABS-CBN. GMA was
also ahead of TV5’s 7.3 percent. In Mega Manila, GMA got 43.2 percent, higher than ABS-CBN’s 28.2 percent by 15 points, and TV5’s 7.7
percent by 35.5 points. Moreover, during the Lenten Season (Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday), GMA said its programming was also
ahead across all dayparts, including primetime. GMA secured a 44.1-percent audience share in NUTAM, up 14 percentage points from
ABS-CBN’s 30.1 percent and up 38.1 points from TV5’s 6 percent. For its part, ABS-CBN said it was also leading in the coveted primetime
block with an average audience share of 49 percent compared to 33 percent for GMA. “The primetime block is the most important part of
the day when most Filipinos watch TV and advertisers put a larger chunk of their investment in to reach more consumers effectively,” ABSCBN said. Nielsen has a nationwide urban sample size of 2,000 homes; while in Mega Manila, it increased its sample size to 1,200 homes
effective this year. Kantar Media uses a nationwide panel size of 2,610 urban and rural homes that “represent 100 percent” of the total
Philippine TV viewing population.
 Crown Asia Chemicals Corp., a listed manufacturer and retailer of branded pipes and PVC compounds, expects to sustain gro wth
in 2016 after reporting a jump in profit last year, a top executive said Monday. Crown Asia said in a stock exchange filing on Monday
that its net income in 2015 jumped 53.2 percent to P100.15 million, as revenues hit P1.07 billion, up 26.6 percent compared to 2014.
Crown Asia president Eugene Villanueva told reporters in a briefing on Monday that the company, which listed on the Philippin e Stock
Exchange in April 2015, would continue to see growth this year. “We are very prudent in the way we manage our business, and we are
quite aggressive in the market,” Villanueva said. Crown Asia sales of PVC compounds, used in cables, wires and packaging materials, hit
P670.8 million, up by a fifth, last year. It said this was led by “strong” export sales, which grew 53.2 percent to P367.2 million. Sales in the
pipe group grew by 36.78 percent to P402.04 million compared to the previous year. This was due to gains in its project sal es segment,
which grew to P258.35 million in 2015, making up 64 percent of total pipe sales, the company said. The company made inroads to
government projects through the supply deals to the Naia Expressway Phases 1 and 2 and NHA Housing Projects. Derrick Villanu eva,
Crown Asia general manager for the pipes division, said the company was bidding for an additional 15 projects, including those under the
government’s public private-partnership program. Also, Crown Asia launched its new Enduro pipe product line to serve the mid-cost and
mass housing sectors. The backlog in these segments was estimated at five million units “and is expected to grow continuously.” “The
market will continue to grow for the mass housing, people are getting to be more economically stable,” Walter Villanueva, who serves as
chair and head of the pipe group, said. The company’s compounds division last January received its new extruder line from Germany,
adding 1,500 metric tons per year to its current capacity of 15,000 MTPY. This equipment produces PVC compounds for bottles, IC tube
packaging, films and sheets applications, it said. “With the company’s expanding capacity and new range of product lines, Crown Asia
Chemicals is confident with its growth momentum as we are well positioned and equipped to supply the demands of the robust
infrastructure and construction industries.” the company’s chair said in a statement on Monday.
 The construction arm of Consunji-led engineering conglomerate DMCI Holdings has invested P900 million in a new state-of-theart steel fabrication plant in Calaca, Batangas—the first new steel plant built in the country in nearly four decades. The highcapacity steel fabrication plant near the group’s power plant in Calaca can produce 2,000 to 3,000 tons of fabricated steel p er month. The
plant has the capacity to fabricate heavy steel sections for power plants and other infrastructure. The steel plant was built to complement
the construction group’s operations. It would supply the requirements of the DMCI group but plans were also underway to secur e sales
contracts with other industrial and construction companies, DM Consunji Inc. said in a press statement. “The idea to set up a steel
fabrication facility came about in April 2013. We did market and business case studies for a couple of months before breaking ground in
November 2014,” said DMCI president Jorge Consunji. Since it began operations, the facility has generated employment for over 240
people, most of whom are from the province of Batangas. The last known high-capacity steel fabrication plant in the Philippines was built
in the 1980s. The Philippine government considers the iron and steel industry as a critical component in achieving inclusive economic
growth and sustainable development. The industry provides necessary inputs for the construction of infrastructure, power generation and
distribution, transportation facilities and vehicles, manufacturing machinery and equipment—all of which are vital for a nation’s long-term
growth. The aspiration of the industry is to be able to produce high-quality and safe steel products for domestic users by 2030. Aside from
gold and copper, the country is also rich in iron ore reserves of almost 300 million metric tons, ensuring a steady output of metals needed
to achieve the goals of the industry. DMCI’s facility uses machine tool technology from Peddinghaus Corp. and Voortman Steel Machinery.
Both are globally acknowledged suppliers of innovative machine tool technology for structural steel and plate fabrication, th e construction
company said. The Consunji group sources raw materials from South Korea, Japan and China.
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ASIA-PACIFIC
 Japanese stocks tumbled to a seven-week low on Tuesday as the yen's rising strength against the dollar cast a shadow over
corporate earnings that have come to rely on yen weakness to supercharge export revenue. The Nikkei share average tumbled 2.4
percent to 15,732.82, its lowest close since Feb. 12. The U.S. dollar lost 0.5 percent against the yen during Asia trade on Tuesday, putting
downward pressure on the share prices of Japanese exporters. Shares of Toyota Motor Corp and Bridgestone Corp each ended the day
3.3 percent lower, while Nissan Motor Co Ltd fell 3.1 percent. The Topix subindex for iron and steel shares ended 3.1 percen t lower after
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry forecast a year-on-year decline in crude steel output for the April-June quarter. The
broader Topix shed 2.6 percent to end the day at 1,268.37 with each of its 33 subindexes in negative territory. The JPX-Nikkei Index 400
fell 2.6 percent to 11,440.39.
 Hong Kong's main stock index posted its biggest loss in nearly six weeks on Tuesday, touching a one-month low, as the energy
sector tumbled against a backdrop of slumping crude oil prices and mixed messages on the outlook for U.S. monetary policy.
The Hang Seng Index had its worst day since Feb. 25, dropping 1.6 percent to 20,177.00. The China Enterprises Index lost 1.9 percent, to
8,679.04 points. The Hong Kong market tracked falls in most Asian markets, despite mainland market indexes ad vancing to near threemonth highs on Beijing's policy support. Stocks fell across the board, with the energy sector falling the most. Oil giants including Sinopec,
PetroChina and CNOOC dropped sharply after oil prices shed more than 2 percent overnight, which brought Brent to one-month lows.
 Asian shares slipped in early trade on Tuesday, pressured by losses on Wall Street against a backdrop of slumping crude oil
prices and mixed messages on the outlook for US monetary policy. Oil prices nursed losses after shedding more than 2 percent
overnight, which brought Brent to one-month lows, as investors doubted that oil producing countries would freeze output to address a
global glut. Brent skidded 0.5 percent to $37.51 a barrel after losing 2.5 percent on Monday. US crude lost nearly 3 percent overnight, and
on Tuesday was down about 0.7 percent at $35.45. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.3 percent,
after commodity-related and industrial shares helped drag down US stock indexes overnight. Japan's Nikkei stock index dropped 0.7
percent, as the dollar wallowed around two-week lows against the yen. US economic data on Monday suggested that economic growth
remained sluggish in the first quarter. New orders for manufactured goods dropped in February, as they have for 14 of the past 19 months,
while business spending on capital goods was much weaker than initially believed. That gave investors no reason to believe t he US
Federal Reserve would raise interest rates anytime soon, in line with the cautious tone Fed chair Janet Yellen sounded last week that
contrasted with more hawkish remarks from other central bank policymakers. Boston Fed Reserve President Eric Rosengren was t he
latest to fly into the hawkish zone on Monday, calling it "surprising" that futures markets currently price in just one or even no rate hikes this
year, which he said could prove "too pessimistic." "Rosengren is usually on the dovish side of the spectrum, highlighting how out of line
Fed chair Yellen sounded last week compared to her colleagues," Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac, said in a note.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Monday he is "comfortable" with the current stance of US monetary policy, and expects
"moderate" economic growth ahead. Against the yen, the dollar shed about 0.2 percent to 111.13, after retracing the overnight low of
111.10. The euro was steady at $1.1390, within sight of Thursday's 5-1/2 month peak of $1.1438. The Australian dollar edged down about
0.1 percent to $0.7595, as investors awaited the outcome of the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest policy meeting, expected at 0430 GMT.
The RBA is widely expected to keep its cash rate at a record low 2 percent, where it has stood since May last year. Subdued retail sales
and inflation data on Monday suggested the central bank might consider cutting rates in the months ahead.
 Japanese convenience store firm Lawson Inc. plans to speed up its overseas expansion and will consider acquisitions, President
and CEO Genichi Tamatsuka said, predicting the number of its stores abroad will surpass those in Japan in 5-10 years. Japanese
convenience store chains are jostling for position in emerging economies as homebase operations face market saturation. Lawso n has
more than 12,000 stores in Japan and 761 branches overseas, of which 655 are in China, and the rest in Thailand, Indonesia, t he
Philippines and in Hawaii. "I think within five to 10 years, the number of stores we are operating overseas will clearly exceed the stores we
are operating in Japan," Tamatsuka told reporters on Tuesday. Tamatsuka is in Manila for the opening of Lawson's flagship branch in the
Philippines, its 20th in the country. "If there is opportunity for acquisitions, we will seriously c onsider," he said. Overseas operations started
slow in 2010 but Lawson plans to accelerate expanding its international footprint, said Tamatsuka. "In terms of future growth, I think
overseas especially Asian countries, including North America, those are the markets we have to seriously consider," he said. Japan
remains an important market for Lawson, with room for growth as new niche categories come out of the ageing society, Tamatsuk a said.
Lawson had forecast ¥35.2 billion ($317.69 million) in net income for the fiscal year that ended in February, up 7.7 percent from a year ago.
 Japan's biggest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) (8306.T), is on the lookout for acquisition opportunities in the
United States and Indonesia as it pursues its goal of becoming a global financial powerhouse, the head of its core unit said. "As
a global commercial bank, the United States and Asia are our base," said Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) president Takashi
Oyamada, told Reuters in an interview. He didn't say how much the bank plans to spend on potential new acquisitions. "In terms of growth
potential and demographic characteristics, (the next target) is Indonesia. We are looking for acquisition opportunities there," Oyamada said,
without specifying any targets. Assets up for grabs in Indonesia include Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd's (ANZ.AX) 39
percent stake in PT Bank Pan Indonesia Tbk (PNBS.JK). Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings has already tried to sell its stake in
Indonesia's Bank Danamon (BDMN.JK). "We are not thinking about buying a commercial bank in Europe," said Oyamada, 60, who took
office on April 1. Long been seen as heir apparent to Nobuyuki Hirano in the top job at BTMU, the veteran insider is widely expected to also
eventually become MUFG's overall president, the post Hirano now occupies. Relatively unscathed by the global financial crisis i n 2008,
MUFG has been aggressively building up overseas operations. Total assets have grown 40 percent in the past five years to reach nearly
300 trillion yen ($2.67 trillion). MUFG's biggest deal in the United States so far was its $9 billion acquisition of over 20 percent stake in
Morgan Stanley (MS.N) at the height of the financial crisis in 2008. In Asia, the bank acquired a majority stake in Thailand's Bank of
Ayudhya Pcl (BAY.BK) in 2013 for over $5 billion. Last week it completed a deal to buy a fifth of mid-sized Philippine lender Security Bank
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
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Corp (SECB.PS) for $790 million. At home, Oyamada - a member of his college's Aikido martial art team as a student - now faces the
challenge of managing commercial banking business at a time when profitability has been undermined by the Bank of Japan's ado ption of
negative interest rates. Lenders are now charged for excess reserves they park at the central bank, making it costly for them to have
deposit volume growing faster than loan volume. Oyamada said it would be "very difficult" to pass the cost of negative inter est rates on to
retail depositors, given the potential for a public backlash among consumers. For large corporate clients, there could be ways to make up
for costs without directly charging fees on their deposits, he said, such as coaxing clients to buy other fee-generating services. For
financial institutions, however, he said it is "within the realm of possibility" that the bank would charge fees on deposits, though he stressed
there is no specific plan to do so at this moment.
 China's consumer prices are likely to rise modestly this year while property prices in some major cities could climb, the state
planner said in a report published in the China Securities Journal on Tuesday. "Consumer price rises will not be too large as
economic growth will continue to steadily slow," the price monitoring center of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)
said in the report. China aims to keep consumer inflation at around 3 percent in 2016 to reflect factors such as rising lab or costs, price
fluctuations of agricultural products and the impact of further price reforms. China's producer prices will continue its clear downward trend,
but the extent of its decline will be reduced, the report added. Annual consumer inflation edged up to 2.3 percent in Febru ary - the fastest
pace since July 2014, while producer prices slowed their slide for a second straight month, taking some pressure off policymakers to rush
out more monetary easing. The government aims to keep annual consumer inflation around 3 percent this year. Property prices in some
of China's second-tier cities may rise significantly, and prices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen will also continue to rise, it said. Real
estate in third and fourth-tier cities will continue to face downward pressures, the report said, but prices in some third and fourth-tier cities
may rise. Municipal authorities in Shanghai have tightened mortgage down payment requirements for second home purchases, in a move
to cool an overheating property market and reduce fears of a bubble. The Chinese yuan is likely to face slight depr eciation pressures in
2016, with fluctuations increasing as the U.S. dollar strengthens, the report said. Wage rises will slow as the economy con tinues to slow,
profit growth decreases and more businesses lose money or go bankrupt, the report said. Job opportunities will also decrease as China
tackles overcapacity and automation increases.
 Credit Suisse Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam said on Tuesday the Swiss bank has been "underweight" in China and would
look to build its wealth management capabilities in the world's second-biggest economy, despite slowing growth. Thiam told a
media briefing on the sidelines of the annual Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong that he was not concerne d by the
slower economic growth in China. The CEO said he saw this as a natural development as the country transforms itself into a consumption driven economy rather than one led by investment. "We have been underweight (in) China and will continue to invest," said Thiam, 53,
who joined the Zurich-based bank in July 2015. The banker said he would be spending five days in China as part of his current Asia trip,
meeting clients and seeking to develop his understanding of their needs. Thiam's focus on China comes at a time when Credit Suisse has
made wealth management a key plank for its future growth. The bank is also shifting its focus to the Asia-Pacific region, where it already
has an important presence in Southeast Asia: Thiam aims to more than double Asia-Pacific pre-tax income to 2.1 billion Swiss francs
($2.19 billion) by 2018. China's blistering economic growth over the past decade has made it home to a million high-net-worth individuals,
according to consultants Bain & Co, twice as many as in 2010. For foreign banks, Asia - and China in particular - has become the new
battleground in developing wealth management business. But making money onshore in China has proved a challenge for most foreign
banks, hampered by the heavily protected nature of China's financial services sector. Credit Suisse currently lacks an onshore license to
operate wealth management business in China, but is considering securing one. "Our strategy is primarily driven by wealth m anagement
and private banking," Thiam said. "We have a good customer base. Today we are offshore, but ultimately we will be onshore."
 China on Tuesday banned imports of gold and rare earths from North Korea as well as exports to the country of jet fuel and other
oil products used to make rocket fuel, a move in line with new United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang. The Security Council
unanimously passed a resolution in early March expanding U.N. sanctions aimed at starving North Korea of funds for its nuclear and
ballistic missile programs after Pyongyang conducted a fourth nuclear test in January and launched a long-range rocket in February. The
mining sector is a key part of North Korea's economy, which is already largely cut off from the rest of the world. Experts believe revenue
from the sector helps underwrite North Korea's military expenditures. The ministry said it would also ban coal shipments from North Korea,
although it made exemptions consistent with sanctions, including uses intended for "the people's well-being" and not connected to nuclear
or missile programs. North Korea delivered around 20 million tonnes of coal to China last year, up 27 percent on the year, overtaking
Russia and Mongolia to become China's third biggest supplier, behind Australia and Indonesia. An exception was made for coal originating
in third countries and supplied via North Korea's port of Rason. Landlocked Mongolia, looking for alternative supply routes for its
commodities, has already signed an agreement with the port that gave its exporters preferential treatment. Export bans on j et and rocket
fuel included exemptions for "basic humanitarian needs" in conjunction with inspections, and for civilian passenger jets flying outside of
North Korea. Other restricted minerals include vanadium and titanium, both used in steel alloys. Independent experts have f requently
questioned China's resolve to enforce sanctions against North Korea, whose economy is heavily dependent on its neighbor. Chin a has said
it will enforce the measures "conscientiously". U.S. State Department officials have expressed optimism the sanctions will be more
effective than earlier attempts to curtail North Korea's nuclear program, pointing to China's apparent willingness to support them. China
disapproves of North Korea's nuclear program, although, as its sole major ally, it has supplied lar ge quantities of aid off the books for
decades.
 China on Tuesday denounced accusations arising from a massive leak from a Panamanian law firm as "groundless" and moved
to limit coverage of documents that may have exposed financial wrongdoing by some of the world's rich and powerful. The
"Panama Papers" revealed financial arrangements of politicians and public figures including friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin,
relatives of the prime ministers of Britain, Iceland and Pakistan, and the president of Ukraine. The International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists (ICIJ), which has published some of the information from the documents, said the files also revealed offshore companies linked
to the families of Chinese President Xi Jinping and other powerful current and former Chinese leaders. While holding money in offshore
companies is not illegal, journalists who received the leaked documents said they could provide evidence of wealth hidden for tax evasion,
money laundering, sanctions busting, drug deals or other crimes. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, asked whether Beijing
would investigate any of the offshore tax affairs of the relatives of top leaders mentioned in the papers, told a daily news briefing: "We won't
comment on these groundless accusations." State media have largely avoided any reporting of the "Panama Papers". Searches for the
word "Panama" on Chinese search engines bring up stories in Chinese media on the topic, but many of the links have been disab led or
only open onto stories about allegations directed at sports stars. Searches for "Panama Papers" in Chinese bring up a warning that the
results "may not accord with relevant laws and rules so can't be shown". China's Internet regulator did not immediately resp ond to a
request for comment. But the Global Times, an influential tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily,
suggested in an editorial on Tuesday that Western media backed by Washington used such leaks to attack political targ ets in non-Western
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countries. "The Western media has taken control of the interpretation each time there has been such a document dump, and Was hington
has demonstrated particular influence in it," the paper said. "Information that is negative to the U.S. can always be minimized, while
exposure of non-Western leaders, such as Putin, can get extra spin," it added. The editorial, in both its English and Chinese editions, made
no mention of the China connections in the Panama Papers. China is in the midst of a massive crackdown on corruption overseen by Xi,
but the government has repeatedly had to swat away criticism the move is more about an internal power play than actually tackling graft.
Calls to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party's graft watchdog leading the crackdown, went unanswered.
Last week, a top party magazine lashed out at critics of the anti-corruption campaign, saying foreign media and individuals from home and
abroad were intentionally trying to discredit the effort as a political "power struggle".
REST
OF THE
WORLD
 European shares fell on Tuesday to touch their lowest level in almost six weeks, with mining, autos and bank stocks leading the
decline after industrial orders in Germany unexpectedly dropped. Industrial orders in Europe's biggest economy fell in February due
to weaker foreign demand, suggesting a slowdown in the global economy was leaving its mark. Other surveys found that French business
activity had stagnated, German private-sector growth hit an eight-month low and Italian services grew at their slowest rate for over a year.
"Economies aren't in great shape," said Manulife Asset Management investment analyst Will Hamlyn. "There's nervousness with the start
of the quarter and there are a lot of concerns about growth." Germany's DAX fell 2.6 percent, underperforming a 1.9 percent drop for the
pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 to its lowest level since Feb. 25. Exporters and other globally-exposed stocks were hit across the region,
with autos down 3.9 percent and mining stocks down 3.7 percent. The French carmaker Peugeot fell 6.5 percent after outlining pl ans to
revive consistent sales growth. Traders said that, while the plan would be hard work, it could help to turn the firm around. "The guidance,
to increase and stabilise margins from a low base, will be tough but achievable," said Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers.
"The margin recovery story is in its infancy and we see the opportunity for this to be the key driver ... Overall, we remain positive." Banks
were also weaker with the sector index falling more than 3 percent with Italian lenders such as Banco Popolare and Monte dei Paschi
leading the decline. Shares in ThyssenKrupp dropped 4.7 percent, among the top fallers on the FTSEurofirst 300. It was down for a
second day following confirmation that Brazilian miner Vale will sell its entire 27 percent stake in the struggling CSA steel plant to the
German firm. The firm had rallied last week on hopes that it could benefit from consolidation in the European steel industry. However, its
shares have been under pressure since the weekend, when Reuters exclusively reported that Vale was finalising a deal.
 Wall Street fell sharply on Tuesday as investors took gains off the table following a recent rally and ahead of an upcoming
quarterly reporting season that is expected to reveal sharply lower earnings. Following a 13-percent surge over the past seven
weeks, the S&P 500 declined 1.01 percent, with all 10 sectors down and a sharp drop in pharmaceutical company Allergan. It was the
S&P's first decline in six sessions, leaving the index flat for 2016. As S&P 500 companies hand in their first-quarter reports over the next
several weeks, average earnings are expected to fall 7.1 percent from the year-ago period, with the energy sector weighing most heavily,
according to Thomson Reuters data. "General consensus is that we're going to see declining earnings," said Peter Jankovskis , co-chief
investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois. "The big question is how big are those declines going to be?" Reflecting
concerns on Wall Street, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Tuesday warned of increasing risks to
global economic growth unless policymakers take stronger measures. A week earlier Fed Chair Janet Yellen urged caution on rate hike s,
citing a shaky global economy and low oil prices. Oil steadied near one-month lows after Kuwait said an output freeze by top producers
would proceed without Iran. Data on Tuesday showed the U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in February, while anot her report
showed services sector activity rose in March. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 0.75 percent to end at 17,603.32 and the
S&P 500 .SPX lost 20.96 points to 2,045.17. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC fell 0.98 percent to 4,843.93. Among the 10 major S&P
sectors, the interest rate-sensitive utilities sector .SPLRCU fell the most, down 1.88 percent. The S&P financials sector .SPSY dropped
1.44 percent, led by Wells Fargo (WFC.N), which lost 2.04 percent. Allergan (AGN.N) shares fell 14.77 percent after the U.S. Treasury
unveiled rules to curb tax inversion deals, potentially derailing the drug maker's merger with Pfizer (PFE.N). Pfizer climbed 2.1 percent.
Allergan was the biggest negative influence on the S&P 500. Baker Hughes (BHI.N) fell 5.09 percent after Reuters reported th at the U.S.
Justice Department will file a lawsuit as soon as this week to stop oilfield services provider Halliburton Co (HAL.N) from acquiring the oil
services company. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,131 to 878. On the Nasdaq, 1,971 issues fell and
818 rose. The S&P 500 index showed 14 new 52-week highs and two lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 21 new highs and 37 lows. About
7.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, a little below the 7.3 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days , according to
Thomson Reuters data.
 Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is to resign, his party said on Tuesday, becoming the first casualty of
leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm which have shone a spotlight on the finances of an array of politicians and public
figures worldwide. The Panama Papers showed the premier's wife owned an offshore company with big claims on Icelandic banks,
infuriating many in his country who joined mass street protests calling for him to resign. The more than 11.5 million documents, leaked
from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, have caused public outrage over how the world's rich and powerful are able to stash their
wealth and avoid taxes while many people suffer austerity and hardship. Mossack Fonseca denies any wrongdoing and on Tuesday ,
Panama President Juan Carlos Varela's chief of staff told a news conference that the government could retaliate after France anno unced it
would put the Central American country back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions. The official, Alvaro Alem an, said that no
Panamanian company had been found to have committed a crime. He added: "We are not going to allow Panama to be used as a
scapegoat by third parties. Each country (implicated) is responsible." Among those named in the documents are friends of Russian
President Vladimir Putin, relatives of the leaders of China, Britain and Pakistan, and the president of Ukraine. Gunnlaugsson quit ahead of
a planned vote of no-confidence, hours after asking the president to dissolve parliament, a move which would almost certainly have led to a
new election. The deputy leader of his Progressive Party, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, told reporters the party will suggest t o its coalition
partners in the Independence Party that he himself should become the new prime minister. Opposition parties said, however, that they still
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
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wanted a snap general election. With the fallout from the leaks reverberating across the globe, British Prime Minister David Cameron also
came under fire from opponents who accused him of allowing a rich elite to dodge their taxes. And in China, the Beijing government
dismissed as "groundless" reports that the families of President Xi Jinping and other current and former Chinese leaders were linked to
offshore accounts. U.S. President Barack Obama said the Panama Papers showed tax avoidance was a major problem and urged the
U.S. Congress to take action to stop U.S. companies from taking advantage of loopholes allowing them to avoid paying taxes. "We’ve had
another reminder in this big dump of data coming out of Panama that tax avoidance is a big, global problem," he told reporters. "It’s not
unique to other countries because frankly there are folks here in America that are taking advantage of this same stuff. A lot of it’s legal, but
that’s exactly the problem." Thousands gathered outside the Icelandic parliament in Reykjavik on Monday to protest about what the
opposition said was Gunnlaugsson's failure to disclose a conflict of interest over his wife's offshore company, which has big claims on
Iceland's collapsed banks. The prime minister has stressed his wife's overseas assets were taxed in Iceland. A government s pokesman
has said the claims against Iceland's collapsed banks held by the firm owned by Gunnlaugsson's wife totaled more than 50 0 million
Icelandic crowns ($4.1 million). Iceland's main commercial banks collapsed as the global financial crisis hit in 2008 and ma ny Icelanders
have blamed the North Atlantic island nation's politicians for not reining in the banks' debt-fueled binge and averting a deep recession.
Icelandic government bonds saw their biggest selloff in five months due to the uncertainty, with yields on 10-year bonds jumping 15.6 basis
points to 5.891 percent. In Britain, the leader of the opposition Labour Party demanded the government tackle tax havens, saying it was
time Cameron stopped allowing "the super-rich elite" to dodge taxes. "There cannot be one set of tax rules for the wealthy elite and
another for the rest of us," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said. "The unfairness and abuse must stop." He said Britain had a huge
responsibility since many tax havens, such as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, are British overseas territories , while others
such as Jersey or the Isle of Man are British crown dependencies.
 The U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in February as a rebound in exports was offset by an increase in imports, t he
latest indication that economic growth weakened further in the first quarter. But the growth picture should brighten in the months
ahead, with other data on Tuesday showing that activity in the vast services sector picked up in March as new orders rose str ongly, and
sustained strength in the labor market. "There are some green shoots appearing this spring in the economic data which makes us more
confident that 2016 is going to be a good year after a step-down in expectations and hopes at the start of the year," said Chris Rupkey,
chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York. The Commerce Department said the trade def icit increased 2.6 percent to $47.1
billion in February, worse than economists' forecasts for a reading of $46.2 billion. When adjusted for inflation, the shortf all rose to $63.3
billion, the largest since March last year, from $61.8 billion in January. That prompted economists to cut their first-quarter gross domestic
product growth estimates by as much as half a percentage point to as low as a 0.4 percent annualized rate. They see trade su btracting at
least seven-tenths of a percentage point from GDP growth in the first quarter, up from 0.14 point in the fourth quarter. The economy grew
at a 1.4 percent rate in the final three months of 2015.
Though the trade report joined data on consumer and business spending in
casting a dark shadow over the economy, the clouds could lift in the coming months. In a separate report, the Institute for Supply
Management said its services industry activity index increased 1.1 points to 54.5 in March. A reading above 50 indicates grow th in the
services sector, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy. Services industries reported an increase in new orders. A
measure of orders for services exports jumped five points to 58.5, a positive sign for overall U.S. exports. A third report from the Labor
Department showed hiring by U.S. employers increased 297,000 to 5.4 million in February, the highest level since November 2006.
Underscoring the strength and confidence in the labor market, 2.95 million people voluntarily quit their jobs in February, lifting the quit rate
to 2.1 percent. The Federal Reserve looks at the quit rate as a measure of confidence in the jobs market and it is hoped th at increased
labor market churn will drive up wages. "For the most part, today's reports point to a domestic economy that is in good shape. First-quarter
growth looks like it may be a little less solid than hoped for, but the underlying data indicate all is still well," said Joel Naroff, chief economist
at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. The dollar firmed against a basket of currencies, while U.S. stocks fell. U.S.
government debt prices rose. In February, exports of goods rose 1.6 percent, increasing for the first time since September. Overall exports
of goods and services advanced 1.0 percent. Exports have been undercut by a buoyant dollar, which has made U.S.-manufactured goods
expensive relative to those of the country's main trading partners. Slowing growth in Europe and China has also eroded demand for U.S.
goods. But with the dollar rally fading, February's nascent increase in exports could be sustained. A survey last week showed a gauge of
new export orders received by factories rose in March to its highest level since December 2014. The dollar is down 1.3 percent on a tradeweighted basis so far this year after gaining about 20 percent against the currencies of the United States' main trading partners between
June 2014 and December 2015. "The recent dollar depreciation should lead to some strengthening in exports. But at this point, it is not
clear if the solid gain in exports in February represents a change in the underlying trend or simply reflects noise in the se ries," said Daniel
Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. In February, exports of food, automobiles and parts, as well as consumer goods
increased. But exports of industrial supplies and materials were the lowest in nearly six years. Capital goods exports hit th eir lowest level
since November 2011. Petroleum exports were the lowest since September 2010. Imports of goods and services rose 1.3 percent in
February, suggesting strong domestic demand. However, lower oil prices and increased domestic energy production are keeping t he
import bill in check. Food imports hit a record high in February. But imports of industrial supplies and materials were the lowest in nearly
seven years. Petroleum imports touched their lowest level since September 2002. Oil prices averaged $27.48 per barrel in Febr uary, the
cheapest since December 2003. The politically sensitive U.S.-China trade deficit fell 2.8 percent to $28.1 billion in February.
 New orders for US factory goods fell in February and business spending on capital goods was much weaker than initially
thought, the latest indications that economic growth slowed further in the first quarter. The Commerce Department said on Monday
new orders for manufactured goods declined 1.7 percent as demand fell broadly, reversing January's downwardly revised 1.2 per cent
increase. Orders have declined in 14 of the last 19 months. They were previously reported to have increased 1.6 percent in January. The
department also said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft fell by a steeper 2.5 percent in February instead of the 1.8
percent drop reported last month. These so-called core capital goods are seen as a measure of business confidence and spending plans.
"This morning's report suggests a more sluggish manufacturing sector in the early part of the quarter," said Jesse Hurwitz, an economist at
Barclays in New York. The report added to weak consumer spending and trade data in suggesting economic growth moderated further at
the turn of the year after slowing to a 1.4 percent annualized pace in the fourth quarter. Estimates for first-quarter gross domestic product
growth are currently below a 1 percent rate. US government bond prices were little changed after the data, while the dollar fell to a twoweek low against the yen. US stocks were trading marginally lower. Manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy,
has been pressured by a strong dollar and weak global demand, which have undermined exports of factory goods, as well as efforts by
businesses to reduce an inventory overhang. The sector has also been slammed by investment cuts by energy firms as they adjust to
reduced profits from cheaper oil. But the worst of the factory slump appears to be over, with a survey last week showing manufacturing
activity expanded in March for the first time in six months. After gaining about 20 percent versus the currencies of the United States' main
trading partners between June 2014 and December 2015, the greenback is flat on a trade-weighted basis so far this year. In addition, the
slide in oil prices has slowed. "We remain hopeful for some upcoming improvement in the data as many of these headwinds have either
passed or faded," said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. "We have also been encouraged somewhat by some o ther
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
Page 11 of 15
more timely manufacturing indicators that have turned more mixed lately following a per iod of more widespread and severe weakness." In
February, factory orders fell broadly, with orders for transportation equipment tumbling 6.2 percent. Orders for machinery dr opped 3.4
percent and bookings for electrical equipment, appliances and components decreased 3.6 percent. The Commerce Department also said
shipments of core capital goods, which are used to calculate business equipment spending in the GDP report, fell 1.7 percent in February
rather than the 1.1 percent reported last month. Inventories of factory goods dropped for an eighth straight month, suggesting factories
were making progress in reducing the inventory glut. While that could support future manufacturing production, it suggests in ventories
remained a drag on economic growth in the first quarter. The inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.37 in February, unchanged from the
prior month. Unfilled orders at factories fell 0.3 percent in February, while shipments of manufactured goods, which have dec lined in 10 of
the last 11 months, fell 0.7 percent.
 Drugmaker Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) is leaning toward abandoning its $160 billion agreement to buy Allergan Plc (AGN.N) in light of the
U.S. Treasury's new measures to curb such tax evading deals, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday . The
discussions between the two companies and their lawyers are set to continue for the remainder of Tuesday and no final decision has been
made, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. However, Pfizer is not willing to change the terms of its deal w ith Allergan
which, under the new tax rules, would no longer benefit from the move to Ireland, the source said. Pfizer and Allergan declined to
comment. The U.S. Treasury Department took new steps on Monday to curb tax-driven corporate inversions whereby companies seek to
slash their tax bills by redomiciling overseas, though their core operations and management usually remain in the United Stat es even as
they claim a new tax home. The source said the company's lawyers have presented alternative ways for the two companies to salvage the
inversion but there was little appetite for it. "Pfizer is aware that the Treasury will keep ruling against any solution it can come up with," he
said. One of the main hurdles to the deal was Treasury's decision impose a three-year limit on foreign companies bulking up on U.S.
assets to avoid ownership limits for a later inversion deal. This means Allergan's latest deals -- which include the $66 billion merger of
Allergan Plc and Actavis Plc, the $25 billion purchase of Forest Laboratories and the $5 billion takeover of Warner Chilcott - will not be
counted and the business will fail to meet the ownership math for the deal. The source said the new rules came as a surprise as Pfizer
was confident of delivering on its $160 billion proposed merger with Allergan. He said the management was rather expecting the Treasury
to rule against inversions toward the end of last year when the two companies were looking at ways to bypass the existing law . Pfizer and
Allergan have always had an exit strategy in place, the source said. The two drugmakers agreed that either party may terminate the deal if
an adverse change in U.S. law would cause the combined company to be treated as a U.S. domestic corporation for federal incom e tax
purposes. The terminating party would have to pay the other company up to $400 million for its expenses, according to the merger
agreement. Pfizer's Chief Executive Ian Read has tirelessly worked to find a merger partner and redomicile the business in E urope since
dropping a takeover bid for British drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN.L) in 2014. The source said Read firmly believes in the industrial logic of
a deal with Allergan and the tax savings that the combined entity would achieve, but he has been put off by the Treasury's latest measures
and is unwilling to fight a legal battle with the U.S. authorities. Pfizer is concerned U.S. President Barack Obama's administration could
change the rules again to thwart a deal. The source said the company's lawyers have presented alt ernative ways for the two companies to
salvage the inversion but there was little appetite for it. "Pfizer is aware that the Treasury will keep ruling against any solution it can come
up with," he said. One of the main hurdles to the deal was Treasury's decision impose a three-year limit on foreign companies bulking up
on U.S. assets to avoid ownership limits for a later inversion deal. This means Allergan's latest deals -- which include the $66 billion
merger of Allergan Plc and Actavis Plc, the $25 billion purchase of Forest Laboratories and the $5 billion takeover of Warner Chilcott - will
not be counted and the business will fail to meet the ownership math for the deal. The source said the new rules came as a s urprise as
Pfizer was confident of delivering on its $160 billion proposed merger with Allergan. He said the management was rather expecting the
Treasury to rule against inversions toward the end of last year when the two companies were looking at ways to bypass the exi sting law.
Pfizer and Allergan have always had an exit strategy in place, the source said. The two drugmakers agreed that either party may terminate
the deal if an adverse change in U.S. law would cause the combined company to be treated as a U.S. domestic corporation for f ederal
income tax purposes. The terminating party would have to pay the other company up to $400 million for its expenses, according to the
merger agreement. Pfizer's Chief Executive Ian Read has tirelessly worked to find a merger partner and redomicile the business in Europe
since dropping a takeover bid for British drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN.L) in 2014. The source said Read firmly believes in the industrial
logic of a deal with Allergan and the tax savings that the combined entity would achieve, but he has been put off by the Treasury's latest
measures and is unwilling to fight a legal battle with the U.S. authorities.
 The U.S. Justice Department will file a lawsuit as soon as this week to stop oilfield services provider Halliburton Co from
acquiring smaller rival Baker Hughes, a deal that would combine the No. 2 and No. 3 oil services companies, a source familiar
with the matter said. Share prices for Baker Hughes were down 6 percent at $38.99 at midafternoon Tuesday while Halliburton was up
about 1 percent at $34.34. The two sides had been discussing asset sales aimed at saving the deal, which was announced in November
2014. In January, Halliburton told regulators it was prepared to sell assets with combined 2013 revenue of $5.2 billion. Hal liburton and
Baker Hughes both declined comment on Tuesday. If the deal collapses due to antitrust concerns, Halliburton must pay Baker Hughes a
$3.5 billion breakup fee, according to regulatory filings. The proposed deal has also hit headwinds in Europe, where the EU competition
authority was concerned that the proposed merger would reduce competition and innovation in more than 30 product markets, bot h
offshore and onshore. As far back as July 2015, Reuters reported that a source close to the probe said there were c oncerns among U.S.
antitrust enforcers that the tie-up of the two companies in the oilfield services industry would lead to higher prices and less innovation. The
Justice Department's worry at that time focused on two areas, the source said. One was that the drilling technology businesses would go to
small companies that could not effectively compete with the two leaders. The other was that the leaders would have less incen tive to
innovate.
 Several countries have launched tax evasion probes after a massive leak of confidential documents lifted the lid on the murky
offshore financial dealings of a slew of politicians and celebrities. The scandal erupted on Sunday when media groups began
revealing the results of a year-long investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca,
which specializes in creating offshore shell companies. Among those named in the "Panama Papers" are close associates of Rus sian
President Vladimir Putin, relatives of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, as well as
Barcelona striker Lionel Messi. In Iceland's capital Reykjavik, thousands took to the streets late Monday to demand the prem ier resign over
allegations that he and his wife used an offshore firm to hide millions of dollars of investments. Australia has already launched a probe into
800 wealthy Mossack Fonseca clients. France and the Netherlands also announced investigations, while a judicial source said S pain had
opened a money-laundering investigation into the law firm. Panama also pledged to launch an investigation to identify if any crimes have
been committed and any financial damages should be awarded. President Juan Carlos Varela said Panama would cooperate with th e
international probes but also vowed to "defend the image of our country", which has a reputation as a hub for under -the-table dealings.
Messi's family was swift to dismiss any suggestion he had been involved in shady dealings, saying "accusations he created a.. . tax evasion
plot, including a network of money-laundering, are false and insulting." Messi has been charged with tax fraud in a separate case that is
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
Page 12 of 15
due to go to trial in May. The trove of documents was anonymously leaked to German daily Sueddeutsche Zeit ung and shared with more
than 100 media groups by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). More information is expected over the coming
weeks. The first revelations elicited a chorus of denials, including from the Kremlin, which s uggested a US plot after the leaks put a close
friend of Putin's at the top of an offshore empire worth more than $2 billion. "Putin, Russia, our country, our stability an d the upcoming
elections are the main target, specifically to destabilize the situation," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, claiming the journalists were
former officers from the US state department, the CIA and special services. Offshore financial dealings are not illegal in t hemselves but
may be used to hide assets from tax authorities, launder the proceeds of criminal activities or conceal misappropriated or politically
inconvenient wealth. Among other key findings of the probe, which named about 140 political figures, including 12 current or former heads
of state: (i) the families of some of China's top brass -- including President Xi -- used offshore tax havens to conceal their fortunes,
including at least eight current or former members of the ruling Communist Party's most powerful body; (ii) Iceland's prime minister secretly
owned millions of dollars in bank bonds at a time when his country's banking system was collapsing in 2008. He has so far stead fastly
refused to step down; (iii) a member of FIFA's ethics committee, Juan Pedro Damiani, had business ties with three men indict ed in a
corruption scandal; (iv) a Panamanian shell company may have helped hide millions of dollars from a $40 million British gold bullion
robbery at London-Heathrow Airport in 1983 that is etched in criminal folklore, according to the ICIJ; and (v) Oscar-winning Spanish film
director Pedro Almodovar and actor Jackie Chan were among celebrities named in the papers. The papers, from around 214,000 offshore
entities covering almost 40 years, also name the president of Ukraine and the king of Saudi Arabia, as well as sporting and movie stars.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied any wrongdoing, but he may face an attempt to impeach him. French newspaper Le Monde
cited documents showing that Syria used Mossack Fonseca to create shell companies to help it break international sanctions and fund its
war effort. Pascal Saint-Amans, head of tax policy at the OECD, said the leaks showed that Panama was among the world's shadiest tax
havens. "Among the countries that refuse to automatically exchange information, there are Bahrain, Nauru, Vanuatu and Lebanon," he told
AFP. "Switzerland is really making progress, so there is a concentration of problems in Panama." One of the Panama law firm's founders,
Ramon Fonseca, told AFP the leaks were "a crime, a felony" and "an attack on Panama." More than 500 banks, their subsidiaries and
branches have worked with Mossack Fonseca since the 1970s to help clients manage offshore companies. UBS set up more than 1,1 00
and HSBC and its affiliates created more than 2,300. The documents show "banks, law firms and other offshore players often fail to follow
legal requirements to make sure clients are not involved in criminal enterprises, tax dodging or political corruption," the ICIJ said. Mossack
Fonseca is already subject to investigations in Germany and Brazil, where it is part of a huge money laundering probe that has threatened
to topple the current government.
Updated Guidelines On Sound Credit Risk Management
– 15 April 2016 (Dusit Thani Hotel)
Implementing With ISO – Business Continuity Management
And Business Impact Analysis/Risk Assessment
– 16 April 2016 (Dusit Thani Hotel)
Related Party Transactions
– 22 April 2016 (Dusit Thani Hotel)
Guidelines On Operational Risk Management
– 22 April 2016 (Dusit Thani Hotel)
Basic Course on Corporate Governance for Bank Directors
(Thrift and Rural Banks)
– 22 & 23 April 2016 (Dusit Thani Hotel)
Lean Six Sigma
– 23 April 2016 (Dusit Thani Hotel)
Supervisory Expectations on ICAAP
– 29 April 2016 (Dusit Thani Hotel)
Signature Analysis & Forgery Detection
– 30 April 2016 (Dusit Thani Hotel)
ACCOUNTING STAFF
New accounting graduates or highly
proficient and qualified accounting
professional
Send your resume and cover letter to the
SECRETARIAT@baiphil.org or contact Tel
No (632)853-4457 or (632)519-2433 or drop
by at our office: Unit 66, 6/F Kanlaon Tower,
Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City
For details, please contact BAIPHIL via telephone (853-4457/519-2433) or email training@baiphil.org.
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
Page 13 of 15
COURSE COMMITTEE
Internal Audit, Legal and Compliance
Romel Meniado
Chairperson
APRIL 1-15
Bles Andres
Malou Prudente
Director
Objective: To organize and offer sessions on:
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Risk-based Audit Approach, Internal Audit and Control,
Auditing ICAAP
AMLA
3rd Party Service Provider / Outsourcing Framework
New Regulatory Issuances
02
03
04
06
07
07
10
12
13
13
Ma. Victoria F. Abanto – PNB
Joselito Ricardo G. Nazario – Sumitomo Mitsui
Freddie G. Villadelgado – Past President
Salvador R. Serrano – Past President
Dolores A. Santiago – Assoc Life Member
Heubert U. Motio – Secretariat
Minda L. Cayabyab – PS Bank
Eliseo G. Hidalgo, Jr. – Philtrust
Marita Socorro D. Gayares – BPI
Herminigilda P. Manuba – CARD Bank
MONEY LAUNDERING – It is the process of creating the appearance that large amounts of money
obtained from serious crimes, such as drug trafficking or terrorist activity, originated from a
legitimate source. There are three steps involved in the process of laundering money: placement,
layering, and integration. Placement refers to the act of introducing "dirty money" (money obtained
through illegitimate, criminal means) into the financial system in some way; "layering" is the act of
concealing the source of that money by way of a series of complex transactions and bookkeeping
gymnastics; and integration refers to the act of acquiring that money in purportedly legitimate
means. One of the more common ways that laundering takes place is when a criminal organization
funnels their illegally obtained cash through a cash-based business, slightly inflating the daily take.
These organizations are often referred to as "fronts." In the popular television series "Breaking
Bad," the methamphetamine dealer funnels his earnings from selling illicit drugs through a series of
car-wash businesses. Other common forms of money laundering include smurfing, where a person
breaks up large chunks of cash and deposits them over an extended period of time in a financial
institution, or simply smuggles large amounts of cash across boarders to deposit them in offshore
accounts where money laundering enforcement is less strict.
"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing."
-
Dale Carnegie
What are the origins of YAHOO and GOOGLE names?
Yahoo! was started at Stanford University in January 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo, who were
Electrical Engineering graduate students when they created a website named "Jerry and David's
Guide to the World Wide Web". Upon the April 1994 renaming of Jerry and David's Guide to the
World Wide Web to Yahoo!, Yang and Filo said that "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" was
a suitable backronym for this name, but they insisted they had selected the name because they
liked the word's general definition, as in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: "rude,
unsophisticated, uncouth."
Following the collaboration of Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University om 1995,
a search engine called BackRub was born, operating on university servers for more than a year. In
1997, Google.com was registered as a domain on September 15. The name—a play on the word
"googol," a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100
zeros—reflects Larry and Sergey's mission to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information
on the web.
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
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A family photo contained:
one grandfather, one grandmother,
two fathers, two mothers,
six children, four grandchildren,
two brothers, two sisters,
three sons, three daughters,
one father-in-law, one mother-in-law, one daughter-in-law.
29 people you may think, but no! What is the fewest number of people that could have
been in the photo?
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BPI Asset Management
Business World
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Star
Compiled And Prepared By:
Research Committee FY 2015-2016
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GMA News
ABS-CBN News
Bulletin Today
Reuters
Director:
Chair:
Member:
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Bloomberg
CNN
Wall Street Journal
Strait Times
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Investopedia
Brainy Quotes
Goodreads
Corsinet – Trivia
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Trivia Of The Day
Filipi-Know
Phrases.Org.UK
Fun, Trivia & Humor
Maria Teresita R Dean (ChinaBank Savings)
Sheryll K. San Jose (Equicom Savings Bank)
Rachelle A Fajatin (Equicom Savings Bank)
DISCLOSURE: The BAIPHIL Market Watch (BMW) is for informational purposes only. The content of the BMW is sourced from third party websites and may be subject to change without notice. Although the
information was compiled from sources believed to be reliable, no liability for any error or omission is accepted by BAIPHIL or any of it s directors, officers or employees, and BAIPHIL is not under any obligation
to update or keep current this information
BAIPHIL Market Watch – 06 April 2016
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