Press Release

The Board of Directors of the Fondo de Ahorro de Panama extends the Secretariat’s employment contract

Panama | June 1, 2018

The Board of Directors of the Fondo de Ahorro de Panama (“FAP” or “Fund”), announces the extension of its employment agreement with its Secretariat, Abdiel A. Santiago M., for an additional five (5) year term.

“Abdiel has exemplified transformative leadership, given that he was key to the creation of this organization five years ago,” said Chairman of the Board Jose N. Abbo.  “This extension underscores the Board’s confidence of his strong risk management focus, and the Fund’s outstanding financial results and robust organizational culture.”  

“I am honored to have contributed to Fund’s financial and organizational progress since its creation” said Mr. Santiago.  “We have assembled a great management team and together we are building a great organization.  Throughout this period, the Fund has generated approximately B/. 200 million in net income (net returns)*, reducing its administrative costs by around 30%, and has been named one of the most transparent Sovereign Wealth Funds in the globe.  Above all, I am extremely proud of my team, which has worked very hard and diligently to achieve this performance.” 

The Board of Directors is authorized under Article 20 of its current bylaws to extend its contract for an additional five-year term; the initial contract term ended on April 14, 2018.

Mr. Santiago has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector, including equity investment research, investment banking, restructuring and financial regulation.   Prior to his current role, Mr. Santiago was an equity investment research executive at Morgan Stanley in New York covering the energy sector and worked in teams that consistently ranked No. 1 in equity research. He received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver.

*The monetary unit of the Republic of Panama is Balboas (B/.), which is at par and freely exchangeable with the United States dollar (USD); The Republic of Panama does not issue its own paper currency, and instead, the USD is used as legal tender, and is considered the Fund´s functional currency.  The financial reports provided by our global custodian are in USD and form the financial basis of this report.

About the Fondo de Ahorro de Panama
The Fund was created by Law 38 of June 5, 2012, whose main objectives are:

1. Establish a long-term savings mechanism for the Panamanian State; and
2. Establish a stabilization mechanism in case of a state of emergency (declared by the Cabinet’s Council) and economic slowdowns.

Contact: Administration, +507-394-5776/5706, administrador@fondoahorropanama.com
For additional information visit www.fondoahorropanama.com
 
 
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