PDEx breaches one trillion mark!

WHEN the ceremonial bell rang at the Philippine Dealing and Exchange (PDEx) last Thursday, I thought I heard it ring longer than usual.

For two good reasons, I found out minutes later.

Nino Nakpil, President and CEO of PDEx, explained that ten years after its inception, the outstanding amount of corporate bonds listed in PDEx just breached ₱1-trillion.

Helping it cross the threshold was the listing that very morning of the single biggest issue in PDEx history – a ₱25 billion bond issued by the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), the very first bank in the Philippines.

BPI President and CEO Bong Consing was understandably elated with the reception to the bank’s debut fixed rate bond.

“At ₱25 billion, the bond is 5 times larger than our original target amount, and yet is priced at the tight end of our original price range. The order book exceeded ₱38 billion, indicative of the trust placed in us by thousands of investors,” Consing said.

Nakpil thanked the community of corporate issuers for the significant strides achieved by PDEx over the last ten years.

Among them, Nakpil noted, was the Ayala Group (of which BPI is a part) which was represented during the listing ceremony by Ayala/ BPI top gun, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.

“The Ayala Group easily stands out as the “pioneer passenger” and as the most “frequent flyer” to boot,” Nakpil said.

Ayala Corporation and Ayala Land started the ball rolling in 2008 with a total issue of ₱10 billion.

“With today’s listing from BPI, the Ayala Group’s cumulative level of listed bonds would stand at ₱203.13 billion or 20 per cent of total, “Nakpil explained.

SEC Commissioner Ephyro Luis Amatong was equally ecstatic at the developments at the PDEx which he attributed to “a vibrant economy, an innovative private sector, and a commitment by the government to enhance the enabling environment”.

Amatong cited the following series of reforms: “improved shelf registration of securities, reforms in the government securities market, and the domestic capital market reform effort involving SEC, BSP and the Bureau of the Treasury.”

The peso bond is BPI’s third fund raising in the capital markets in 2018.

In April, BPI raised ₱50 billion in equity via a rights offer.

In August, BPI raised $600 million via its debut US dollar bond offer.

All told, BPI now has issued 50 billion in equity and 57 billion pesos in bonds.

BPI’s bond offering last Thursdaywas undertaken by the following:

– HSBC (headed by Graham Fitzgerald), lead manager and bookrunner;

– BPI Capital (headed by Reggie Cariaso) and HSBC, selling agents;

2. Don’t fall into the lifestyle of the RICH

This trick begins when people believe they can never slip into a RICH lifestyle, they believe this is something that they are not in danger of slipping into. But reality is all of us have some elements of RICH thinking somewhere deep inside which cause us to spend money that we really do not want to spend.

The RICH lifestyle happens when people treat themselves as if they constantly deserve the things they want. It’s the “I deserve this” kind of mentality. It’s when they choose to reward themselves first for a job well done even when they don’t actually need the “reward.”

It is important to understand that there isn’t really a need to spend as if we deserve what we want simply because we have a disposable income. “Treat yourself” are two very dangerous words that people live by in their financial life and the brain is so powerful that it can trick people to believing that they deserve everything that they want. Let us keep in mind that the true indicator of wealth is the difference between how much we have and how much we actually spend.

3. Don’t neglect checking your cash flow or budget (at least twice a week)

The easiest way to be bad with money is to simply avoid it. When we become guilty with our purchases or felt like we’ve gone overboard with spending, there is a high probability that we consciously ignore our cashflow or budget, because they remind us of that guilt.

While this attitude allows people to avoid the problem (of guilt), continually ignoring account statements can lead to bigger financial problems in the future.

It is vital that we learn to confront the detailed realities of our money life. Making sure that we recognize all the purchases listed in our statements and being hands on with checking our account balance are good ways of becoming successful with our finances.

4. Don’t expect savings to grow instantly.

The fact is, a lot of people treat savings as a passive idea instead of actually treating is as a verb – the act of setting aside money for future purposes. Savings aren’t achieved overnight, it’s usually an effect of a good practice that is survived day after day.

Treat savings as an active category of spending, meaning we need to first learn how to set aside savings money before everything else instead of setting aside money that is left over after living our life.

We can consider saving as an active form of spending. When we save, we buy freedom, flexibility, safety, and the future.

When it comes to your finances, do you have discipline to really take control of your finances? Or it ends up controlling you? Do you want to know how to develop the right money discipline to control your finances? How do you thrive with rules?

Do you often find yourself compliant with the do’s or the don’ts? When it comes to your finances, which type of rules are you most likely inclined to follow? List down help rules (do’s or don’ts) and commit to following these rules every day.

“Stay on top of your finances. Don’t leave that up to others” – Leif Garrett