exposed or not?

GFIs asked to disclose US exposures
(PDI, 10.03.08) MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Finance said it would ask all government financial institutions (GFIs) to disclose their exposures to US companies to show the public their financial condition, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said Thursday.

“If they do have exposure to US firms, some of their investments could have suffered from losses,” Teves told reporters.

Teves said the finance department would soon send a letter to all state-owned banks and pension funds and ask them to list their investments in the United States, and meet with them next week.

Some private banks in the Philippines have disclosed to have exposure to Lehman Brothers, and the central bank has reported that the exposure is only 0.4 percent of the total assets of the banking industry.

The Insurance Commission has also said that no private insurance company in the Philippines has exposure to Lehman Brothers. It said only 10 percent of the assets of the insurance industry was invested in foreign-currency-denominated instruments. Of that, more than 90 percent is placed in virtually risk-free Philippine sovereign bonds, it said.

Among GFIs, the Development Bank of the Philippines is identified as having exposure to Lehman Brothers. Its officials say the amount of exposure is minimal.

The pension fund Government Service Insurance System has said it has “zero exposure to Lehman, whether directly or indirectly.” It says its foreign fund managers are more oriented toward European markets and thus were not exposed to US investments.

The Social Security System has said it has no investments overseas.#