Philippine ranking in financial dev’t index improves

The Philippines improved its global ranking on financial development by six notches to 44th out of 60 countries from 50th last year.

In a report titled “Financial Development Index 2011,” the World Economic Forum (WEF) said the Philippines got a score of 3.13 (out of 7) points this year, up from 2.96 points last year.

Despite the country’s improved ranking, however, it still was behind many of its Asian neighbors.

Hong Kong grabbed the top position with a score of 5.16 points. Singapore was third with 4.97 points; Malaysia was 17th, 4.24 points; Korea was 24th, 4.13 points; China was 22nd, 4.12 points; and Thailand ranked 34th, 3.32 points.

The Philippines, however, ranked better than Vietnam, which ranked 46th with a score of 2.98 points, and Indonesia, which was 51st with 2.92 points.

WEF said a country’s “financial development” was determined based on seven pillars: institutional environment, business environment, financial stability, banking and financial services, non-banking financial services, financial markets, and financial access.

In the area of “institutional environment”— which covers prudent regulations, corporate governance and financial sector liberalization—the Philippines got a score of 3.73 points, ranking 42nd.

In the area of “business environment”—which encompasses human capital, taxes, infrastructure and cost of doing business—the Philippines got a score of 3.39 points, landing on 56th spot.

The Philippines ranked 44th with a score of 4.13 points in the area of financial stability, which covers capacity to cope with risks of currency, banking and sovereign debt crisis.

The country ranked 36th with a score of 3.41 points in the area of banking financial services.

In the area of non-banking financial services—which covers insurance, securitization and services that aid in initial public offerings, and in mergers and acquisitions—the country ranked 20th with a score of 2.53 points.

In financial markets—which cover foreign exchange, equity, and bond markets among others—the country ranked 33rd with a score of 2.04 points.

In financial access, the country was 50th with a score of 2.66 points.

The Top 10 are Hong Kong, United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland and Norway.