Awards for Excellence 2009: Philippines

Analysts covering the Philippines were almost unanimous this year in praising BPI for the way in which it has maintained a strong and liquid balance sheet throughout the crisis: at the end of March 2009 the firm claimed the highest capital adequacy ratio among its peers at 14.9% and had grown deposits by 8.8%. BPI claims the award for best bank in the Philippines from rival BDO, now the larger firm thanks to its merger with Equitable PCI bank in 2007. While BDO retained a strong capital position throughout 2008 as integration of the two units developed, its return on assets, return on equity and capital adequacy ratio were all below those of BPI. In addition to its strong profitability, BPI wins further plaudits for the success of its investment banking arm, BPI Capital, which worked on key deals including the treasury’s P70 billion ($1.45 billion) retail bond and Ayala Corp’s P6 billion preferred shares issuance.