BDO bags 4 Finance Asia awards; 2 other local banking groups cited

The country’s biggest banking group, Banco de Oro, bagged four out of six 2017 domestic banking achievement awards, including the “Best Bank in the Philippines” award, given by Hong Kong-based financial publication Finance Asia.

Bank of the Philippine Island’s investment house BPI Capital Corp. won the “Best DCM (Debt Capital Markets) House” award while the Metrobank group’s brokerage arm First Metro Securities bagged the “Best Broker” citation.

American banking giant Citi was named “Best Foreign Bank” in the Philippines while UBS was cited as the “Best Foreign Investment Bank.”

“The competition was extremely tight this year, with numerous financial institutions proving their resilience in a difficult regulatory and banking environment,” Finance Asia said in the announcement of winners of its “Country Awards for Achievement 2017.”

BDO investment house BDO Capital & Investment Corp. won the “Best Investment Bank” Award while BDO also won the “Best ECM (Equity Capital Markets)” House award.

BDO likewise bagged the “Best Private Bank” citation.

Led by the Sy family, BDO Unibank sees net profit this year rising by 7.3 percent to P28 billion, driven largely by recurring earnings from lending and fee-based businesses.

In the first quarter, BDO achieved about a fifth of its full-year profit guidance. It posted a net profit of P5.8 billion in the first three months, up 6 percent from a year ago. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA