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Pag-IBIG disburses P25.6B in cash loans

THE Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) said it released a record-high P25.57 billion in multipurpose loans (MPL), otherwise known as cash loans, during the first six months of 2019.

In a statement, Pag-IBIG Fund said an all-time high 1.22 million members availed of the cash loans.

MPL disbursements rose by 6% from the P24.07 billion released during the January to June period in 2018.

“We are exerting all efforts to assist Pag-IBIG members with their immediate financial needs, following the directive of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to provide Filipinos with affordable loans so that they will not resort to loan sharks. As a testament to our support to this directive, Pag-IBIG Fund — in the first six months of 2019 alone — has already assisted more than 1.2 million members through the MPL program,” Eduardo D. del Rosario, chairperson of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Pag-IBIG Fund board of trustees, said.

Under the MPL program, qualified members can borrow up to 80% of their total Pag-IBIG Regular Savings — which consist of their monthly contributions, their employer’s contributions, and accumulated dividends earned.

The loan is payable within 24 months, with deferred first payment. The MPL has an interest rate of 10.5% per annum.

“Our Multi-Purpose Loan program serves as an affordable and readily-accessible source of cash loans. The MPL proceeds can be used for tuition fees, medical expenses, minor home improvement, capital for business, or even for vacation expenses,” Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said.

Pag-IBIG Fund members can receive their loan proceeds in an average of 1.8 working days.

“This faster processing time allowed us to serve more members, which is shown by the 8 percent growth in the number of loan releases or an additional 93,886 members aided by the MPL program in the first half of this year compared to same period in 2018,” Mr. Moti added.

Overall, the Pag-IBIG Fund released P26.26 billion in short term loans benefitting 1,267,616 members in the first half of this year. Aside from the MPL, P688.25 million in calamity loans were released to 40,593 members.

Sting’s Oct. 2 concert canceled

THE concert of English musician and actor, Sting (Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner), scheduled on Oct. 2 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, has been canceled according to the concert’s local organizers.

“We regretfully announce that Sting’s concert scheduled for Oct. 2, 2019 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum is unfortunately canceled due to scheduling conflicts. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this development and know that Sting hopes to return to Manila soon to perform for his fans,” Ovation Productions said in an e-mail to the media on July 13.

The concert was supposed to be the Philippine stop of Sting’s ongoing My Songs international tour which started in May in Paris to promote his newly released album of the same name. The album features contemporary interpretations of 15 of his most celebrated hits including “Every Breath You Take,” “Demolition Man,” “Brand New Day,” and “Shape of My Heart.”

Mr. Sumner got his start in 1977 as a member of the British rock band The Police where he was the songwriter, lead singer, and bassist. He went on to build a successful solo career in 1985.

Sting has performed several times in the Philippines, first back in 1994 at the Ultra Outdoor Stadium, and most recently during his Sting Back to Bass Tour Manila concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in 2012, and with Chris Botti in 2016 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom. — ZBC

KMC to open 4 new offices in Philippines

FLEXIBLE office space provider KMC continues to expand in the Philippines with the opening of four new workspaces in Cebu, Clark, Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and Ortigas.

In a statement, KMC said its newest workspace is located on the 16th and 17th floors of Skyrise 4B building in Cebu IT Park. It has a capacity of 970 seats, and each floor has coworking spaces, private offices, training rooms, breakout areas, and large open event spaces. It has plug-n-play capability with 24/7 on-site IT support.

“We are very happy to be part of the economic growth of Cebu City. With this location, we expect many local and foreign companies, along with investors to take advantage of the distinct facilities that KMC has to offer,” Michael McCullough, co-founder of KMC, said.

KMC will also open a new flagship location in the Net Quad Building in BGC, as it tries to meet strong demand from local and foreign companies. Multinational finance, insurance, and IT firms have already committed to lease space in this location.

In Ortigas, KMC will occupy a floor in Robinsons Cyberscape Gamma. It will host the company’s first dedicated creative space with a design studio and soundproofed podcast rooms.

KMC will also open a facility in West AeroPark Tower 1 at Clark Global City, its first facility in Pampanga.

US Fed seen launching repo facility next year

THE FEDERAL Reserve may launch a repo facility in 2020, Deutsche Bank said. — REUTERS

THE FEDERAL RESERVE may launch a policy tool to lend to banks using Treasuries and other securities as collateral in early 2020, with possible testing to begin later this year, a Deutsche Bank strategist said.

Such a standing fixed-rate repurchase agreement, or repo, facility would serve as a backstop against sharp spikes in interest rates in money markets, which are occurring with growing frequency at month- and quarter-end.

“We reaffirm our expectations that the Fed could test this facility later this year and launch it for full-scale operations in early 2020,” Deutsche Bank strategist Steven Zeng wrote in a research note published late on Friday.

Fed policy makers debated the merit of a repo facility in June. There is no consensus yet on the design of the facility.

Other Wall Street analysts questioned whether a repo facility would happen any time soon when the central bank may end its balance sheet normalization and restart its purchases of Treasuries sooner than it has planned.

“Our base case remains for this facility to be implemented eventually, but we think it can take longer than we previously expected — around Q3 2020 — given diverse opinions on the parameters from the participants,” Citi Research rates strategist Steve Kang wrote in a research note.

Still, the Fed and financial markets stand to benefit from a repo facility, Deutsche Bank’s Zeng said.

For the Fed, such a program could shrink more of its balance sheet, currently at $3.86 trillion, and may discourage big banks from hoarding reserves, resulting in more even distribution of reserves to smaller banks, he said.

For traders and investors, a repo facility could support Treasuries trading volumes and liquidity by offering more flexibility to banks to move between holding reserves and holding securities, he said.

Big US banks have clung to a large share of excess reserves, rather than lending them, partly to meet liquidity requirements enacted in response to the global financial crisis a decade ago.

More bank demand for Treasuries could help lower bond dealer holdings of them. Dealers’ need for financing to hold their Treasuries inventory has contributed to the intermittent spikes in repo rates on the open market, he said.

The Fed may initially set the facility’s fixed rate at 35 basis points above the interest the Fed pays on bank reserves. The spread could be adjusted up or down, Zeng said.

He reckoned the Fed would allow banks and primary dealers, or the top 24 Wall Street bond firms that do business directly with the Fed, to access the repo facility. — Reuters

Globe leads fixed wireless home broadband market

GLOBE Telecom, Inc. will start offering Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G this month. — WIKIPEDIA.ORG/ HANS OLAV LIEN

GLOBE TELECOM, Inc. said it grew its market share for fixed wireless home broadband in the first quarter as the penetration rate across the country expanded during the period.

In a statement Monday, the Ayala-led telecommunications firm said its market share in the home broadband segment increased to an “all-time high” of 84.4% in the January to March period, up from 76.9% in the same period last year.

This was as more users adopted the fixed wireless home broadband technology across the country, hitting a 27% penetration rate in the three-month period from 16% in the same period last year, based on data from Kantar Philippines.

“Deploying fixed wireless solutions for homes has been a game changer for Globe. It allowed us to provide more homes with high-speed broadband as quickly and as comprehensively as possible,” Globe President and Chief Executive Officer Ernest L. Cu said in the statement.

He added the company’s aggressive push for the home broadband segment is driven by the increasing demand for “bandwidth-intensive multimedia content.”

Just last month, Globe launched its fifth-generation (5G) broadband service to the home, Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G, which is scheduled to be commercially available this July.

The latest service — which put Globe as the pioneer of commercial 5G service in Southeast Asia — is available in plans ranging from 20 megabits per second (Mbps) to 100 Mbps.

The company generated home broadband revenue of P5.2 billion in the first quarter, a 21% growth from the same period last year, coming from a subscriber base of 1.7 million users.

It is allocating P63 billion for capital expenditures this year to support the expansion of its network services. — Denise A. Valdez

In Harry Met Sally tribute, NY deli invites contestants to ‘have what she’s having’

NEW YORK — It was the moan heard around the world.

In the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally, actor Meg Ryan’s loud rendition of a woman faking an orgasm while seated at a New York deli stands as one of the most memorable moments in film history.

Katz’s, the deli where the scene took place, ran a contest on Friday to mark the 30th anniversary of the movie’s release, inviting anyone who wants to “have what she’s having” to sit at the same table in the Lower East Side landmark and imitate Ryan’s famously feigned frenzy.

Popular with New Yorkers since it opened in 1888, the family-run business specializing in enormous corned beef and pastrami sandwiches became an international tourist spot after the film.

Competitors in Katz’s contest, whatever their gender identity, would have to record their performances, post the videos online, and wait for a panel of social media influencers to pick a winner who will be announced this week, the deli said.

Among the contenders on Friday was Shauna Mogan, 31, a high school teacher from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who nibbled a pickle and moaned in a mounting crescendo that culminated in screams and drew applause from the crowded restaurant.

Mogan, who in the midst of her performance knocked a baseball cap off her friend, Zack Yarborough, 33, said the experience was particularly satisfying because Katz’s looks the same as it did in the movie 30 years ago.

“It’s such a classic scene — and in a place that still exists!” said Mogan, who said it wasn’t her first fake orgasm, just the first in public.

Unfortunately, the contest excludes the scene’s most famous line, when another deli customer, a middle-aged woman who watches Ryan’s table-pounding performance in awe, tells a waiter: “I’ll have what she’s having.”

The line, delivered by director Rob Reiner’s late mother Estelle Reiner, ranks No. 33 in the American Film Institute’s list of all-time top 100 movie quotations. (The No. 1 line was Rhett Butler’s immortal line from Gone With The Wind: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”)

The appeal of Ryan’s performance is the way her character humbles her over-confident companion Harry, played by Billy Crystal, who insists women had never faked orgasms with him.

“It’s just that all men are sure it never happened to them and most women at one time or another have done it, so you do the math,” Ryan’s character says.

When Harry insists he surely would have been able to tell the difference, she begins fake moaning, building to loud cries of feigned ecstasy.

“Meg Ryan was so convincing — like an ego-busting butcher,” Ben Mankiewicz, a host on the Turner Classic Movies television channel, told Reuters in an e-mail. “Men everywhere stopped kidding themselves after experiencing that scene.” — Reuters

Ayala Land gets 4-arrow distinction at ACGS

AYALA Land, Inc. (ALI) was again named one of the top performing Philippine publicly listed companies (PLC) under the 2018 ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS).

The property giant received the four-arrow recognition, the highest distinction given to a Philippine company this year and given only to companies which garnered a score of 110 to 119 points. There were only six Philippine companies to secure the four-arrow distinction.

ALI subsidiaries Cebu Holdings Inc. and Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corporation also received two-arrow recognitions under the ACGS.

The ACGS is a tool used to assess and rank PLCs in six ASEAN countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is also an instrument that demonstrates ASEAN members’ commitment to sound corporate governance, which in turn helps to increase foreign direct investments into the region.

The ACGS is an initiative of the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) that started in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank in 2011.

Top Thai bank’s digital platform to drive loan growth

SIAM COMMERCIAL Bank Pcl expects digital lending to retail customers to climb almost eight-fold this year as Thailand’s biggest lender accelerates its online drive to win business.

Credit card and personal loans via the bank’s mobile phone application will rise to at least 18 billion baht ($582 million) this year from about 2.3 billion baht in 2018, said Co-President Apiphan Charoenanusorn. A $1 billion investment to support the technology, due to be completed this year, has helped the online retail banking expansion, she said.

“Online and digital services will be our key to survival and growth as the cost of getting new customers is cheaper and the target group is wider,” Apiphan, 54, said in an interview on Thursday.

Thai banks and finance firms have teamed with technology companies to target individuals as they seek to boost loan growth, with more people turning to financial institutions for funds that are cheaper than those from informal lenders. Still, increasing domestic household debt has prompted the central bank to tighten supervision of mortgage lending and other consumer loans.

“Thai banks are facing a very tough situation from fintech companies, which have taken a big shares of fees from banking services,” said Tanadech Rungsrithananon, an analyst at RHB Securities (Thailand) Pcl.

“Digital lending would be another challenge because this kind of loan carries very high risk without proper management.”

Muangthai Capital Pcl, the nation’s biggest non-bank lender of consumer loans, Krungthai Card Pcl and Srisawad Corp. have emerged among the best performers among Asian peers in the past month on optimism about loan demand. They earn annual interest rates of more than 20% on personal loans, still more attractive to consumers who face monthly charges of more than 5% from loan sharks.

Siam Commercial, which counts King Maha Vajiralongkorn as its biggest shareholder, plans to boost investment in overseas technology businesses, building on its partnership with ride-hailing giant Go-Jek, according to Apiphan.

The tie-ups would help tap surging demand among more than 40 million Thai cell phone users for online services ranging from financial products to food delivery, she said.

The bank has 16 million retail customers, of which 10 million use its mobile phone apps for banking transactions, Apiphan said. It aims to expand online services to more than 40 million Thais with mobile phones, she said.

Amid the digital focus, the bank is pushing ahead with plans to close “unprofitable” branches, said Apiphan. It currently has about 900 after closing some 200 outlets since 2016, she said.

Siam Commercial gets about half its revenue from retail loans for automobiles, homes and personal spending, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its shares have gained 3% this year, lagging behind an 10.7% rally in the benchmark SET Index. — Bloomberg

Anchor Land signs PPP deal with Parañaque gov’t

ANCHOR Land Holdings, Inc. is partnering with the local government of Parañaque City for a mixed-use development project.

In a statement, the real estate developer said it signed a P4-billion public-private partnership (PPP) contract with the Parañaque City government to develop a one-hectare property located between the Parañaque Intergrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) and Coastal Mall.

The land is owned by the local government, while Anchor Land will undertake the three-tower project. The first tower will be used as a satellite office for the city government, while the second will be an office building, and the third tower will be used as a bedspace facility.

“This project and our satellite office will bring the city government’s services closer to our citizens and all sectors, especially our business partners. Through this project, we are encouraging the private sector to invest in our city, in the Manila Bay area,” Parañaque City Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez was quoted in the statement as saying.

He noted one of the towers will accommodate the business permit and licensing office (BPLO) and assessor’s office of the local government.

Extension offices of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS), Pag-IBIG and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will be established in the first tower.

“With our satellite office, our businessmen and employees can avoid the current traffic situation going to our existing City Hall,” Parañaque Vice Mayor Jose Enrico T. Golez said.

The site of the mixed-use development property is located near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway exit ramp going to Entertainment City, which houses several of the country’s biggest gaming and entertainment hotels.

“Anchor Land has always aimed at providing better living solutions. And our project with Parañaque City government will help promote work-life balance for those working in Bay City. Instead of traveling for an hour or two to get home, employees can spend their time in more productive activities,” Anchor Land Project Director Aaron Tumao said in the statement.

Anchor Land earlier said it is allocating P35 billion for capital expenditures until 2021 to fund its residential, office and logistics center projects. It is scheduled to break ground on a total of six projects this year, namely two residential buildings, two office developments and two logistics centers.

The company posted an attributable net income of P128.13 million in the first quarter of the year, up 24% from in the same period last year driven by a 30% rise in its gross revenues. — Denise A. Valdez

Damosa taps Colliers for Diamond Tower

DAMOSA Land Inc. signed an agreement with Colliers International Philippines for property management and landlord representation services for Damosa Diamond Tower.

The 15-storey commercial building is located within the PEZA-accredited Damosa IT Park in Davao City.

The deal with Colliers covers pre-operations consultancy, which means putting together an integrated construction and operations team “to ensure efficiency and sustainability” of Diamond Tower.

“Creating an integrated team at the onset emphasizes valuable connections and partnerships between contractors, project managers, operators and tenants and as we think about areas of opportunity for integration and synergy throughout the design, construction and operation of this building, we have Colliers on board to ensure a seamless transition and implement best practices across all service lines for our client’s satisfaction,” Cary Lagdameo, vice-president of Damosa Land, said.

The Diamond Tower boasts of sustainable technology such as LED lighting, solar panels, and eco-friendly insulation. The building is set to provide corporate spaces for the business process outsourcing and other industries by the first quarter of 2020.

Damosa Diamond Tower is Colliers International Philippines’ first exclusive landlord representation project in Davao.

New Lion King movie lands with a critical whimper

LOS ANGELES — The much-anticipated new version of animated movie classic The Lion King landed with a whimper rather than a roar on Thursday with critics hailing it as visually impressive but tame in terms of character and storytelling.

The Lion King, Walt Disney Co.’s latest remake of its own beloved animated films, shows off advanced techniques that blend virtual reality, live action, and digital imagery to bring a hyper-real feel to the animals and African settings.

But early reviews said the overall result was a letdown, although most critics conceded the movie will perform well at the box office where some analysts are predicting an opening weekend of around $150 million when it arrives in North American theaters on July 19.

“Everything here is so safe and tame and carefully calculated as to seem predigested. There’s nary a surprise in the whole two hours,” wrote Todd McCarthy for The Hollywood Reporter.

Mr. McCarthy predicted, however, that the film “will be duly gobbled up by audiences everywhere like the perfectly prepared corporate meal it is.”

The new version, starring Beyoncé and Donald Glover as the voices of lions Nala and Simba, is a faithful, sometimes shot for shot, recreation of the 1994 film, including much of the original dialogue and Elton John’s hit songs.

“That raises the inevitable question of, ‘Why bother?’,” wrote Variety critic Peter Debruge, calling the film “undeniably impressive but incredibly safe.”

“The answer can be spelled in dollars,” Mr. Debruge wrote.

The Lion King started its international rollout in China on Friday and arrives in the rest of the world in the middle of this week. The 1994 film was a $968 million global smash that spurred a long-running Broadway stage show and more than 20 international productions.

Despite the hyperrealism of the new version, some critics found the film lacking in emotion and said the life-like singing and talking lions, hyenas, and warthog felt odd.

Some reviews were unusually harsh. Alissa Wilkinson at culture website Vox.com said the movie lacked magic, calling it a “bloated retread without a reason.”

“Be prepared for a crushing disappointment,” wrote Scott Mendelson at Forbes.com. — Reuters

US proposes barring big technology firms from offering financial services

A PROPOSAL to prevent big technology companies from functioning as financial institutions or issuing digital currencies has been circulated for discussion by the Democratic majority that leads the House Financial Services Committee, according to a copy of the draft legislation seen by Reuters.

In a sign of widening scrutiny after Facebook Inc.’s proposed Libra digital coin aroused widespread objection, the bill proposes a fine of $1 million per day for violation of such rules.

Such a sweeping proposal would likely spark opposition from Republican members of the house who are keen on innovation, and would likely struggle to gather enough votes to pass the lower chamber.

Even if it were to pass the full house, it would still have to pass the senate which would also likely be an uphill struggle.

Nevertheless, the draft proposal sends a strong message to large tech firms increasingly eyeing the financial services space.

The draft legislation, “Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act”, describes a large technology firm as a company mainly offering an online platform service with at least $25 billion in annual revenue.

“A large platform utility may not establish, maintain, or operate a digital asset that is intended to be widely used as medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value, or any other similar function, as defined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,” it proposes.

Facebook, which would qualify to be such an entity, said last month it would launch its global cryptocurrency in 2020.

Facebook and 28 partners, including Mastercard Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., would form the Libra Association to govern the new coin. No banks are currently part of the group.

Last week, US President Donald Trump criticized Libra and other cryptocurrencies and demanded that companies seek a banking charter and make themselves subject to US and global regulations if they wanted to “become a bank.”

His comments came after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers that Facebook’s plan to build a digital currency called Libra could not move forward unless it addressed concerns over privacy, money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability. — Reuters

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