BDO still PH’s biggest bank in ’15

Henry Sy-Led BDO Unibank Inc. remained the country’s biggest bank in terms of assets, which rose to P1.94 trillion at end-2015, the latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed.

BDO also led the pack in 2014 with P1.81 trillion in total resources.

The next four banks retained their respective end-2014 rankings alongside higher amounts of assets last year: George Ty-led Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., second with P1.46 trillion in assets in end-2015 (from P1.34 trillion in 2014); Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands, third with P1.24 trillion (from P1.2 trillion); state-run Land Bank of the Philippines, fourth with P1.2 trillion (from P1.05 trillion), and Lucio Tan-led Philippine National Bank, fifth with P629 billion (from P578.4 billion).

In 2015, Security Bank Corp. moved up to sixth place from ninth position a year ago, with assets totaling almost P533 billion, a jump from end-2014’s P387.4 billion. Last January, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group—Japan’s largest bank—acquired a 20-percent stake in Security Bank in a deal valued at P37 billion, making it one of the largest foreign acquisitions of a local bank in recent years.

With Security Bank’s rise, Development Bank of the Philippines (seventh spot, with P508.5 billion in total assets) and China Banking Corp. (eighth, with P454.9 billion) both dropped a notch from a year ago, although their assets both increased from P475.4 billion and P407.2 billion, respectively, in 2014.

Last year, the ranking of Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. improved a place to ninth with P432 billion in assets, up from P385.5 billion in 2014. Ben O. de Vera