Catholic Church has Billions of Pesos invested in the Stock Market

For most of us, it’s a given that the Catholic Church is rich. Obvious proof of that are their sprawling acres of land, large Church-owned structures and buildings, and millions of pesos of cash collected from mass goers every week.

What a lot of people do not know, though, is that part of the Church’s wealth is its multi-billion peso investments in several Philippine companies. In fact, reports submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) show that the Church and affiliate Catholic groups are top stockholders in companies such as the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Philex Mining Corporation (PX), San Miguel Corporation (SMC), Ayala Corporation (AC), and Phinma Corporation (PHN), among others.

Philippine Church invested in banks, mining, construction, etc.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila, for example, owns more than 300 million shares of BPI and is the bank’s 4th largest owner.

How much are these shares worth? As of May 2016, this is valued at more than P30 billion.

Interestingly, aside from banking, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila (RCAM), together with its subsidiary hospitals and companies, is also invested in mining and construction.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila is not the only diocese invested in Philippine stocks. Other dioceses with significant stock investments include:

Roman Catholic Bishop of Tuguegarao, Cagayan – owns 856,639 shares of SMC worth P94 million
Roman Catholic Bishop of Nueva Segovia de Vigan – owns 428,067 shares of SMC worth P47 million
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Jaro, Iloilo – owns 491,385 shares of BPI worth a total of P28 million
Roman Catholic Bishop of Tuguegarao, Cagayan – owns 24,015 shares of Ayala Corp worth P9.3 million
Affiliate Catholic groups also have huge investments in Philippine companies. More than P500 million pesos worth of San Miguel Corp (SMC)‘s shares, for example, are owned by three (3) Catholic groups:
El Superior de la Corporacion Filipina de Padres Agustinos Recoletos – 2.37 million shares worth P260.7 million
Superior de la Corporacion Archicofradia de N.P.J.N de Recoletos – 1.23 million shares worth P136 million
Carmel of the Divine Infant Jesus of Prague, Inc. – 957,000 shares worth P105 million

They owe it to the millions of Filipinos who donate their hard-earned cash every Sunday to the Church that religiously invests in stocks.

Source: Pinoymoneytalk