Investment banker UBS AG said the peso’s recent gains "could be sustainable" but political "noises" might still pull down the local currency, especially in mid-year when President Arroyo’s impeachment case starts. "We believe the peso’s gains can be sustained, thanks to large and rapidly growing remittances from overseas workers, which support the balance of payments," UBS Investment Research in a report recently. "(However) political noise is likely to keep appreciation pressure in check, in particular, as we approach June, when renewed impeachment proceedings against President Arroyo could be launched," the bank said. UBS added the peso outperformed most Asian currencies last year due to a resilient current account surplus on the one hand and a move into surplus for the capital account on the other. "We expect the solid current account surplus to continue but the capital account should be weaker this year, in our view." The bank said they think the peso will continue to trade in a narrow range of P51-52: for the remainder of the year.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas issued a new memorandum to banks with pre-need trusts for the protection of planholders. The BSP laid down additional prudential measures in the administration of the trust funds of preneed companies. These measures include a limitation on investment choices to low-risk investments (government securities, fully secured loans) in the absence of guidelines from the Securities and Exchange Commission allowing alternative investments. The new rule also lays down restrictions on transactions of the trustee not only with its directors, officers, stockholders and related interest, but also those of the trustor — pre-need company, as a safeguard against conflicts of interest. "To further insulate planholders from prejudice arising from conflicts of interest, the (BSP memo) likewise sets qualifications on the capacity of the trustee to administer the funds of an affiliated pre-need company," the central bank said. Banks and other financial intermediaries performing trust, other fiduciary business and investment management activities, which presently administer trust fund of pre-need companies are given one year to comply with the new requirements.

The Court of Appeals rejected the motion for reconsideration of Cemco Holdings to nullify the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ruling directing Cemco to conduct a tender offer to other shareholders of Holcim Philippines, formerly Union Cement Corp. (UCC). The order, issued last March 6 by the CA’s Special Tenth Division, denied for lack of merit the petition of Comic against National Life Insurance Co. (NLIC), which has argued that SEC has the primary and exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate the dispute between the parties and to issue a decision directing petitioner (Cemco) to make a mandatory tender offer to National Life. NLIC is a minority stockholder of the publicity-listed UCC, owning 45,000,000 common shares. NLIC has asked the regulatory body to nullify the acquisition of shares by respondent Cemco Holdings in Union Cement Corp. (UCC), Union Cement Holdings (UCC), Union Cement Holdings Corp. (UCHC) Bacnotan Consolidated Industries (BCI) and Atlas Cement Corp. (ACC) and order Cemco to make a tender offer for complainants’ 45,000,000 UCC shares at the highest price it paid for the beneficial ownership in UCC.