10 Philippine banks in Forbes’ World’s Best Banks list

MANILA, Philippines — Prominent business magazine Forbes has included 10 financial institutions from the Philippines in its recently published list of The World’s Best Banks for 2023.

The 415 banks that earned a spot on Forbes ranking were evaluated in categories, such as digital services, customer services, financial advice and trust.

“If you cannot trust your financial institution, all other perks and services dwindle,” Parijat Banerjee, global head of business services at LatentView Analytics, said.

Forbes’ World’s Best Banks 2023 reflects trust and other industry trends especially after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the US.

Compiled in partnership with market research firm Statista, the list is based on a worldwide survey of 48,000 banking customers in 32 countries.

The Top 10 banks in the Philippines include CIMB Bank, Lucio Tan’s Philippine National Bank (PNB), Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands, Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines, and Sy-led BDO Unibank.

Completing the list were state-run Land Bank of the Philippines, Metrobank Group’s Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), Maya Bank of PLDT’s Voyager Innovations, and Gokongwei-owned Robinsons Bank Corp.

According to Forbes, the biggest banks were not necessarily the best as online banks are at the top in many countries, reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on customers’ digital comfort.

Over the past two years, Banerjee said that banks rapidly adopted new digital technology that made customers’ experiences more robust, swift and personal – all necessary to appeal to Millennial and Gen Z customers.

CIMB Bank is the 31st largest lender in the Philippines in terms of assets at P30.26 billion as of end-2022, while PNB is the seventh largest bank with total resources amounting to P1.17 trillion.

BDO, owned by the family of the late retail and banking magnate Henry Sy, continued to dominate the industry with assets of P3.92 trillion and capital of P459.82 billion.

BPI is the country’s third largest bank with assets of P2.6 trillion and capitalization of P316.07 billion. The 171-year-old bank aims to complete its merger with Robinsons Bank , the country’s 16th largest bank with resources of P183.25 billion.

UnionBank is the country’s 9th largest bank with resources amounting to P961.58 billion, while RCBC is ranked sixth with P1.18 trillion.

On the other hand, PSBank – the thrift banking arm of the Metrobank Group – is the country’s largest mid-sized bank with assets of P263.37 billion and capitalization of P35.74 billion.

Maya Bank is one of the six entities granted digital banking licenses by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.