Philippine Banks Will Be Sheltered From Crisis, Investors Say

By Ian C. Sayson

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The global credit crisis, which has claimed Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., will have a ``minimal'' impact on Philippine banks, the nation's biggest investors said.

``We are confident in the sound macro fundamentals of the Philippine economy,'' Paul Joseph Garcia, president of the Fund Managers Association of the Philippines, said in a statement. Investors should ``exercise sobriety in this time of uncertainty,'' he said.

The association's 44 members manage at least 2 trillion pesos ($42 billion) in assets, according to Garcia, who is also chief investment officer of ING Investment Management Ltd.'s Manila unit. The group's members include mutual-fund companies and state pension funds.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index has slumped 35 percent this year and is set for its biggest annual loss since 1997 amid concerns the deepening credit crisis will drag on global economic growth.

The credit turmoil, sparked by a U.S. housing slump, has caused $592 billion in writedowns and credit losses among banks worldwide and erased $4 trillion in global stock market value this month, Bloomberg data show.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ian C. Sayson in Manila at isayson@bloomberg.net.