MANILA, Philippines - First Metro Investment Corp., the investment banking arm of the Metrobank Group, remains as the top Philippine bond house according to the bond market survey of The Asset Benchmark Research (ABR) of Hong Kong.
First Metro was named the 2015 Top Bank in the Philippines’ Secondary Market for both corporate and government bonds, ranking first and third, respectively.
The investment bank was also voted as the Top Bank Arranger for Primary Issues in Asian Currency Bonds, Philippines, also for both corporate and government bonds.
The Asian Local Currency Bond Benchmark Review, one of ABR’s syndicated surveys and bespoke research, asked 306 domestic and international institutional fixed income investors, who are active in 11 Asian currency bond markets, to nominate the best houses in the corporate and government primary markets based on the quality and number of issues.
The investors rated the institutions based on their market share across a series of buying criteria, and identified their trading counterparties in the secondary market.
First Metro president Roberto Juanchito Dispo said First Metro is honored to make it once again in the list of ABR’s top banks in the country.
“First Metro will continue serving its clients with its thought leadership, excellence, and innovation,” Dispo said.
As the prime mover in the Philippine capital markets, First Metro continues to dominate the domestic bond market engaging in 94.3 percent of the total bond issues to be completed as of end-November 2015, helping raise P319.038 billion of the P338.338 billion total.