More firms based in the United Kingdom (UK) are looking at opportunities in the Philippines’ growing economy, the official representing UK’s financial and professional sectors said yesterday.
“The main purpose of my visit to Manila is to give impetus to the economic relationship of the UK and the Philippines. We both have very important financial service industries which are major contributors to our own economies and to the global economy,” David Wootton, Lord Mayor of London, said in brief remarks at opening of the trading session at the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Mr. Wootton leads a delegation from May 20-22 to meet with Philippine Trade officials, business leaders and representatives of British companies operating in the country “to promote UK expertise in local public-private partnerships as well as seek new investment opportunities,” the British Embassy said in a statement last week.
Mr. Wootton is being accompanied by Alan Yarrow, London sheriff; Sir Thomas Harris, Standard Chartered Bank special advisor; and Robert Cronin, director for Asia Pacific of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment; as well as Stephen Lillie, British ambassador to the Philippines; Derek Page, director of UK Trade and Investment in Manila; Alistair Fulton, co-chairman for information and communications technology of Manila-based Philippine-British Business Council; and Reynaldo A. Catapang, deputy chief of mission of the Philippine Embassy in London.
Speaking afterwards in an interview with BusinessWorld, Mr. Wootton noted that “the [Philippine] stock market is doing well and that’s attracting attention. Overall, the Philippines is seen as exciting and emerging, with good fundamentals, so you will see a lot more investments here.”
The PSE index has so far hit 19 record highs since the year began, peaking at 5,300.41 last May 3.
Combined UK net foreign direct and net portfolio investments totaled some $12 billion from 1999 to 2010, according to a British Embassy trade and investment brief issued last month.
Data of the Philippine Trade department show UK was the Philippines’ 16th top trading partner last year, with $688.296 million in two-way merchandise trade accounting for 0.64% of the $108.186-billion total.
“London is keen to work with people in Manila to develop the markets here,” Mr. Wootton said.
“Through UK companies, we will be introducing products that will deal with banks, insurance, securities, investing in the stock exchange, among others. It will be a wide range of products and services,” he explained.
“There is a market here for these kinds of products and services. There may be different practices, different cultures and different traditions, but fundamentally, they’re the same products, with the same risks involved,” he added.
Major British financial services operating in the Philippines include HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Pru Life UK.
Mr. Wootton also cited interest in business process outsourcing (BPO), saying: “I think there will be a spreading out of investments from the UK to other parts of the world, where the growing markets are, where the skills are.”
There are some 65,000 BPO workers in the Philippines now serving the UK market, covering sectors like banking, animation, health management, and legal processing, according to the British Embassy’s Web site.
According to the Web site of the City of London Corp., which Mr. Wootton heads, his role is separate from but complementary to that of the Mayor of Greater London. Specifically, while the Lord Mayor serves as ambassador for all UK-based financial and professional services, the Mayor of Greater London oversees government of the city itself. The Lord Mayor, an unpaid and apolitical official, is elected annually for a one-year term, while the mayor is elected every four years.
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Source: BusinessWorld, May 22, 2012
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