MANILA, Philippines - The Bank of the Philippine Islands’ (BPI) has been recognized anew as the best bank for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Philippines as it bagged the Gold Medal Award for overall reputation in the first-ever Radar Global SME Bank Reputation Awards. Completely based on client response without any criteria for eligibility, BPI has gained favorable response from its consumer banking clients for the initiatives of its Corporate Banking Division and its subsidiary, BPI Family Savings Bank (BPI Family). “BPI stood out among the many banks in the Philippines based primarily on the response of 1,100 SME business leaders interviewed in Manila. SMEs have proven its potential to help emerging economies like the Philippines to blossom in the world market, but they need the help of banks that cater to their needs. This award is our way of inspiring these banks to continue its support for SMEs,†Grant Beuzeval, Radar Global co-founder, said. Radar Global is a Hong Kong based specialist business research agency, which has conducted more than 10,000 interviews in 2012 with business owners and finance managers of SMEs in China, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).