BDO Unibank

Early history

BDO Unibank was established on January 2, 1968, as Acme Savings Bank, a thrift bank with just two branches in the area before Metro Manila was formed. In November 1976, Acme was acquired by the SM Group, the group of companies owned by retail magnate Henry Sy, and renamed Banco de Oro Savings and Mortgage Bank.

In December 1994, BDO became a commercial bank and was renamed Banco de Oro Commercial Bank. In September 1996, BDO became a universal bank, which led to the bank's name being changed to the current Banco de Oro Universal Bank .

BDO Unibank eventually became involved in insurance services in 1997 by establishing a subsidiary called BDO Insurance Brokers. In 1999, BDO Unibank expanded its insurance services through partnerships with Zamora Assurance and Assicurazoni Generali s.p.a. , one of the world's largest insurance firms, and Jerneh Asia Berhad, a member of Malaysia's Kuok Group. Later, BDO Unibank partnered up with its insurance affiliates, which are Generali Pilipinas Life Assurance Company and Generali Pilipinas Insurance Company, in March 2000.

Merger with Equitable PCI Bank

The new BDO Unibank retained the ticker symbol of the old Banco de Oro. 1.3 billion BDO shares was issued in exchange for 727 million Equitable PCI Bank shares, which was de-listed on June 4, 2007.

The current bank is the product of the Banco de Oro–Equitable PCI Bank merger after the boards of both Banco de Oro Universal Bank and Equitable PCI Bank agreed to merge on December 27, 2006. For a while, the entity was known as Banco de Oro-EPCI, Inc., but announced that it would go by the name Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc. starting February 2007. Finally in 2010 Banco de Oro changed its name to BDO Unibank, Inc. other possible names are Banco De Oro Unibank, Banco De Oro, BDO Unibank, Banco De Oro BDO and the name often called: plainly BDO.

As of 2020, BDO has the largest distribution network with over 1,400 operating branches and more than 4,400 ATMs nationwide. It is also currently the country's largest bank in terms of consolidated resources, customer loans, deposits, assets under management and capital, as well as branch and ATM network nationwide.BDO Unibank, Inc's main competitors are major Philippine banks like Metrobank and BPI.