SM Investments Corp. (SM) has been named by Forbes as one of the top regarded companies in the annual list of the World’s Best Regarded Companies, ranked based on trustworthiness and company’s performance.

SM took No. 172 place, climbing 63 spots from last year’s 235th place among the Forbes 2019 Global 2000-Best Regarded Companies.

Forbes partnered with Statista to cull the annual list of the world’s 2000 largest public companies down to the top 250 best-regarded companies ranked based on trustworthiness, social conduct, strength of products and services and how they fare as employers. The data were gathered from among 15,000 respondents from more than 50 countries.

“We are honored to receive this recognition. We anchor all our businesses in good corporate governance and we remain committed in strengthening our ability to create meaningful impact to society and deliver greater shareholder value,” said SM president and chief executive officer Frederic DyBuncio.

SM is the only Philippine corporate which garnered spot in the Forbes 2019 World’s Best Regarded Companies, joining companies in Asia which dominated nearly half of the list along with global brands and companies from major industries in the United States and Europe. SM joined the ranks of best-regarded companies for two consecutive years.

This year, Forbes also recognized SM in the inaugural list of Asia’s 200 Best Over a Billion 2019, which cited best-run companies in the Asia-Pacific Region. SM ranked No. 1 in the Philippines and No. 27 among 200 top-performing listed companies across Asia Pacific. SM has also been ranked among the Forbes Global 2000 World’s Best Employers for 2018 and 2017.

Security Bank named Best Bank, Best SME Bank

Security Bank president and CEO Sanjiv Vohra with Alpha Southeast Asia CEO/Publisher Siddiq Bazarwala.

Alpha Southeast Asia, one of the leading regional financial capital markets magazines, recently awarded the best financial institutions in the region. Security Bank Corporation, one of the country’s top lenders, received twin citations: Best Bank and Best SME Bank in the Philippines.

Vohra received the awards during the 13th Annual Alpha Southeast Asia Awards 2019. The awarding ceremony was held on 17 September 2019 at Jurong Ballroom of the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore.

Alpha Southeast Asia was established in 2007 and is the first and only institutional investment magazine focused on Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).

Globe inks MoU with American Tower Corp Subsidiary

In photo are Globe Chief Finance Officer Rizza Maniego-Eala and Transcend Towers Director Jason Hirsch.

Globe has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Transcend Towers Infrastructure (Philippines) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of American Tower Corp., to build more towers in the Philippines.

In support of the common tower initiative of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the agreement will have Transcend Towers build an initial 150 sites for Globe in North Luzon.

Globe chief finance officer Rizza Maniego-Eala said that American Tower Corp Subsidiary will play a critical role in improving the density of Globe’s sites in North Luzon. “There is a significant need to accelerate our infrastructure build for our customers to fully enjoy the benefit of a digital lifestyle,” Maniego-Eala said.

This is the third MoU signed by Globe after ISOC Infrastructure Inc. and Malaysia-based tower giant edotco Group Sdn. Bhd. last June and Aboitiz InfraCapital and Frontier Tower Associates Philippines last July.