MANILA, Philippines - Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has gained the Asia Risk Awards 2014 “House of the Year” for the Philippines, the first-ever bestowed on a Philippine bank. BPI joins an esteemed roster of global banks and financial institutions such as Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC, Hong Kong), Development Bank of Singapore (DBS, Singapore), and Commerce International Merchant Bankers (CIMB, Malaysia) in receiving their respective “House of the Year” awards. The Asia Risk magazine group and the Risk Journals are published by Risk.net, and focus on the international financial risk management sector. It was the first time in 19 years of giving out awards that the media firm gave a “House of the Year” citation for the Philippines. BPI’s proactive approach in enterprise and financial risk management, which entails a strong top-down risk management culture, competent risk management leaders, well-defined risk appetite and metrics, and robust models and systems, are the key elements to the bank’s capability to face both global and local market challenges and its thrust to be at the forefront of ethical, prudent, and proactive enterprise risk management best practices in the country. BPI’s Basel III capital adequacy ratio currently stands at above 15 percent.