Metrobank is Bureau of Treasury’s top market maker for 2024

Ty family-led Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) was honored as the top market maker for government securities eligible Dealers (GSED) for 2024 during the Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) 126th anniversary.

This is the third consecutive year the country’s second-biggest lender had won recognition for its support for the government’s financing requirements.

“Uncertainty will be a permanent fixture of the market, our task is to rise above the headwinds and write the next chapter of market development,” Metrobank financial markets sector head Fernand Antonio Tansingco said in a statement.

“Our goals are clear. We have a lot of unfinished business. How can we increase participation in the bond markets? How can we increase market liquidity? How can we reduce the cost to transact? And how can we ensure a vibrant, active market regardless of the direction of interest rates? These are Herculean tasks that we are faced with, and the problems we, as a community, have to solve,” he added.

The national treasury also recognized nine other financial institutions during the awarding ceremony.

“We, in Metrobank, pledge in solidarity with other GSED market makers here today,” Tansingco said.

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The enhanced GSED program provides for the obligations and privileges of GSED-market makers. It was launched in 2018 as part of reforms aimed at improving the depth and liquidity of the government securities markets.

GSEDs are evaluated yearly based on total primary market volume, auction participation, bid efficiency, secondary market performance, and support to the BTr’s capital market development initiatives, the statement showed. INQ