Comparing Time Deposit Rates of Philippine Banks Part 3

Updated: March 28, 2017

This article is part of a series, read the previous post here: Comparing Time Deposit Rates of Philippine Banks Part 2

Welcome to the third installation of this post, this series has four parts and quick reference links are provided at the end of the post.

For today, we continue with two more banks, Metro Bank and Asia United Bank.

I’d like you to note that this is the last part where I will share bank conversations, because the fourth and final part of the series will focus more on the lessons learned from this experiment.

Metro Bank

Time deposit rate given to me: 1.8750% pa

“Extra money ko kasi yung P300,000. Wala akong plano dito for 1-2 years. Mas maganda kaya kung sa UITF ko na lang siya ilagay?”

“Mababa po ba sir yung interest? Pwede ko po kayong bigyan hanggang 2.125%, try ko pong ipa-approve yung rate.”

“Gusto ko sana malaman kung mas maganda kung sa UITF ko na lang ilagay yung pera ko.”

“Sir, wala po kasi akong information about sa trust products namin dito. Yung requirements niyo po, pwede sa FAMI.”

“FAMI?”

“First Metro Asset Management – yun po ang investment company namin. Mas maganda po makausap ninyo sila ng direct. Tawagan po natin ngayon?”

Experience has already taught me to lower my expectations when it comes to asking about investments in banks. This is why I was not at all surprised at how my inquiries were being accommodated in Metro Bank.

I told the bank staff not to call FAMI, and instead, just give me their contact number. While he was reaching out for a pen and paper to write down the contact details of FAMI, I quickly asked.

“Maganda ba ang FAMI, may investment ka ba sa kanila?”

“Plan ko pa lang po mag-open ng account. Sabi po nung friend ko na dun nag-wo-work, maganda nga po daw mag-invest ngayon sa kanila.”

Upon giving me the piece of paper, I thanked him and went on my way.

As I was walking out, I heard the guy who entertained me call out to another colleague and said, “Patawag naman sa property office, paki-sabi padalhan tayo ng investment brochures natin.”

Truth be told, Metro Bank’s time deposit rates are disappointingly low; but more than that, it’s quite upsetting that the bank officer didn’t give me any information about Metro Fund, which is their official range of UITF products.

However, in fairness to the guy, he did try to connect me to FAMI, which is their mutual fund investment company.

I’m sure that if I had agreed for him to call their office, I’d be entertained by a person on the phone who will have good knowledge about their investment products.

Asia United Bank

Time deposit rate given to me: 2.500% pa

“Extra money ko kasi yung P300,000. Wala akong plano dito for 1-2 years. Mas maganda kaya kung sa UITF ko na lang siya ilagay?”

“Pwede po sir. Pero wala po kaming information about UITF dito sa branch. Naka-centralize po ang inquiries namin sa Trust Department. Pwede ko po kayo i-connect sa kanila.”

“Hindi na siguro. Kunin ko na lang ang number nila, ako na lang ang tatawag.”

“Okay po sir. Marami na po ba kayong bank na napuntahan?”

“Oo, marami na rin. Pero di pa ako nakaka-decide kung saan ako mag-open ng account. Sabi ng isa kong friend, magtanong daw ako ng UITF aside from time deposit kasi mas mataas daw ang earnings doon, totoo ba?”

“Ay sir, hindi ko din po alam. Yung Trust Department po namin talaga ang makaka-sagot sa inyo ng mga questions na yan.”

“Ah okay. Pero ikaw, saan nakalagay investments mo?”

“Naku wala pa po akong investments. Savings account lang nga po meron ako. Pero paunti-unti, sana maka-ipon na pang-invest in the future.”

At that moment, she reached out to me with her calling card, and AUB’s Trust Department numbers. She told me that if I have questions about their deposit products, then I can just call her. But for any inquiry about investments, then the Trust Department is the one I should reach.

After that, I excused myself, thanked her for the time and left the bank. Similar to Metro Bank, the bank officer had no information available and had little knowledge about their UITF products; instead they both tried to connect me via telephone to someone from their investments department.

That’s not at all bad in my opinion, but it would have been better if I could get such information direct from the bank staff because honestly, isn’t it their job to know their own bank products?

At the very least, they should have a list of their available UITF offerings and be able to describe each of them to me. And if ever a client wants to learn more, then that’s the time when they could call their investment department.

—

This ends Part 3 of this article.

Author’s Note:
The conversations above are solely based on my personal experience with the specific bank branches. Duplicating the situation in any of the branches of the same bank, may result to a different experience.

The objective of this “experiment” is not to seek which bank is better, but to help you assess if a bank personnel (regardless where he or she works) is a good and capable resource person to talk with about your investment concerns.

Quick Reference:

• Comparing Time Deposit Rates of Philippine Banks Part 1
• Comparing Time Deposit Rates of Philippine Banks Part 2
• Comparing Time Deposit Rates of Philippine Banks Part 3
• Comparing Time Deposit Rates of Philippine Banks: Lessons Learned