The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged most businesses across the globe, but the consequent lockdown measures have also served as a catalyst for online marketplaces to gain wider acceptance. Consumers who were cooped up in their homes—some of whom were mall rats during prepandemic times—had no choice but to turn to digital platforms for their…
Most business leaders in Southeast Asia expect their enterprises to return to prepandemic profitability levels by 2022 and most are in the thick of business and technology transformation program to sharpen their strategic focus. This was according to the 23rd edition of EY Global Confidence Barometer, a regular survey of senior executives from large companies…
Fund manager Manulife Asset Management Trust Corp. (MAMTC) has unveiled a new investment fund that allows investors to buy into the global health-care space and ride on breakthrough medical advances. Manulife Global Healthcare Equity Feeder Fund is an equity feeder unit investment trust fund (UITF) that investors with aggressive risk appetite may access for as…
Cash is king, it’s often said. And for a long time, it was an undisputed fact of everyday payments in the Philippines. The unprecedented coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, however, has prompted consumers to carry less and less cash in their pockets. Due to health-related concerns, social distancing and lockdown protocols, preference for cash payments for…
Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.’s (RCBC) digital banking platform DiskarTech is rolling out this April a loan marketplace targeting consumers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)—in line with its proposition as a financial inclusion “super app.”DiskarTech—which has registered users, of which about a million had undergone validation as eligible depositors—has also introduced a Visayan…
The prolonged coronavirus pandemic will continue to exact a toll on people and businesses, but amid the rubble, the property sector is in a good position to rebound in 2021, property consulting veteran David Leechiu said. “The property market has been extremely resilient—one of the most resilient in the world and it’s sustained by a…
The good news is that after a horrible 2020, when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic wreaked havoc on the global economy, this year will be better. The Philippines is expected to exit an economic recession with the reopening of businesses and the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine to a critical mass of the population, which should shore…
MANILA, Philippines — After a nerve-wracking year marked by an unprecedented lockdown to contain a coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, investors are looking forward to a recovery in corporate earnings and stock prices this 2021. The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) may rebound to 7,878 this year on the back of a 39.7 percent recovery in…
The year 2020 was not for the faint-hearted investor as a black swan in the form of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic prompted governments to shut down borders and impose tough local quarantine protocols, wreaking havoc on the global economy and causing a stock market shakeout. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended the year…
MANILA, Philippines —If there’s a rising tide that lifts all boats, there may also come a time, no matter how rarely, that a tsunami may wreak havoc on anything on its path. The coronavirus pandemic is one such cataclysmic event. While the human race is no stranger to pandemics, the world has never been as…