BDO bags top award

A prestigious international finance publication has awarded the Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO) as the Best Bank in the Philippines.

In ceremonies held in the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong in July, Euromoney cited the merger between BDO and the former Equitable PCI Bank as “a real success of the historic deal.”

“The takeover makes inherent sense in that BDO was strong in cities and malls, whereas Equitable PCI Bank has a stronger provincial presence and more penetration of Filipino-Chinese markets,” the publication said.

With the merger, BDO now has a much more extensive branch network and will benefit from Equitable’s traditional strengths in the middle markets and in credit cards.

By the end of 2007, BDO’s total deposits grew to $10.8 billion from $9.6 billion and it reported double-digit growth in low cost deposits. Net income grew to $142 million, up from $128 million in 2006. Capital base rose to $226 million (P10-billion) with a Tier 2 debt offering.

“If it can continue to realize benefits from synergies created by the merger, it will be a strong contender for next year’s award,” it added.

In a press statement, BDO president Nestor V. Tan said that the bank has already consolidated its resources with that of Equitable from which to build a stronger bank.

“Our confidence comes from knowing that in the past years, our bank has truly become much greater than the mere sum of its parts,” Tan added.

Total resources stood at P617.4 billion at the start of the year, and it is targeted to expand by 24 percent to P763.5 by end 2008.

At the end of 2007, BDO was ranked second among all banks, the same position it held in 2006.

It was ranked first in terms of gross customer loans, and third in terms of deposits (P444 billion) and total capital (P59.8 billion).