Bank of the Philippine Islands
There is a clear winner in this category. Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has long been the best financial institution for corporates, banking the country’s largest firms, as well as many foreign multinationals. Well run, focused and steady – underlined by the fact that the current chief executive, Cezar Consing, in office since 2013, is only the 13th person to run the bank in its 162-year history – BPI is the epitome of stability in an often-turbulent world.
BPI’s product suite spans the full range of corporate banking, from commercial lending (it boasts 6,100 clients with approved corporate credit facilities) to trade finance, foreign exchange to cash management, as well as investment banking, a division that hopes to benefit from an anticipated pick-up in capital markets activity in late 2017 and 2018.
Its total outstanding loan portfolio, at the end of May 2017, was P751 billion ($14.6 billion), and it continues to innovate, offering sustainable-energy financing and, in 2016, implementing an enhanced open account registration process that cut transaction turnaround time from up to a day, to just 30 minutes.
Its stated vision is to remain the country’s “dominant trade finance solutions provider” and the “primary local bank of choice for corporations nationwide”. Highlights from 2017 include helping a local carrier to import new commercial aircraft, a deal that included opening a new $75 million credit line, consulting with the central bank and managing across 15 departments, all within a narrow timeframe.