MANILA, Philippines - Sy-led Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO) was named the Best Asian Bank for 2013 by FinanceAsia, a Hong Kong-based financial publishing company. This was the first time the award was given to a Philippine bank.
According to the publication, BDO outperfomed the likes of ICBC (China), HDFC (India), Bank Central Asia (Indonesia), Shinhan Financial (Korea), DBS (Singapore), CTBC (Taiwan) and Siam Commercial Bank (Thailand).
The win also snapped a three-year winning streak by Malaysia's Public Bank, which was also shortlisted.
"It represents the first time FinanceAsia has given this award to a Philippine bank, reflecting the rise in fortunes of the country, notably its improved credit rating," said FinanceAsia.
Standard & Poor's and Fitch recently upgraded the Philippines to investment grade earlier this year, and in July, Moody's Investors Service put the country on positive watch, which according to market pundits, could signify a parallel move this year.
The award was determined by ranking the winners of 'Best Bank' in each market along several criteria, with data provided by SNL Financial, a US-based financial data provider.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
