MANILA, Philippines — BDO Unibank and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) are emerging as two of the most visible Philippine banks in artificial intelligence-generated answers, but a new study shows that the financial giants have very different strengths in how AI systems present them to potential customers.
According to the PRecious AI Authority Index: Southeast Asia Banking 2026, BDO was named first in 50.6% of 180 tested Philippine banking answers across 11 AI services, including ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
BPI, meanwhile, appeared in 82.8% of the answers, compared with BDO’s 76.1%, giving the Ayala-backed bank broader overall visibility.
The results suggest that the battle for banking customers is increasingly moving beyond traditional advertising, branch networks and search engine rankings.
As consumers begin using AI assistants to research savings accounts, credit cards, loans and business banking services, the order and frequency in which banks appear in generated answers could become a new competitive concern.
But the findings also raise an important question.
If artificial intelligence starts influencing where Filipinos open accounts or apply for loans, will the banks appearing most prominently in AI answers gain an advantage — even when the results are not necessarily a reliable measure of financial product quality?
BDO Takes the Lead in AI First Mentions
The study found that BDO was the first bank mentioned in 50.6% of the tested Philippine banking answers.
BPI was mentioned first in 16.1%.
That gives BDO a substantial lead in what researchers describe as first-mention prominence.
Being named first may matter because some users could focus on the beginning of an AI-generated answer rather than reading every option.
However, that potential influence has not been established by the study.
The researchers did not measure whether a first mention led to new accounts, loan applications or actual customer conversions.
BDO’s result therefore demonstrates prominence within the tested AI responses, not a verified lead in AI-driven customer acquisition.
The bank’s visibility may reflect how frequently its name appears in publicly accessible information, how AI models associate it with banking services and how different systems organize their generated answers.
But the study does not identify one definitive reason for its leading first-mention share.
BPI Appears in More Answers Overall
While BDO led first mentions, BPI achieved broader answer reach.
BPI was included in 82.8% of the tested AI answers, compared with 76.1% for BDO.
This means BPI appeared more frequently somewhere within the responses, even when another bank was listed ahead of it.
The distinction is significant.
A brand can be included in many AI-generated answers without consistently occupying the first position.
Conversely, another brand can frequently appear first while being absent from a greater proportion of answers overall.
For BPI, the findings suggest that its name has broad visibility across the tested banking topics.
For BDO, the results point to stronger initial prominence.
Neither measure on its own establishes the banks’ actual financial strength, service quality or customer satisfaction.
Business Banking Reveals the Sharpest Divide
The contrast was particularly striking in questions about business banking.
BPI appeared in approximately 96% of tested responses about banking services for businesses.
Yet BDO was named first in 75% of those answers.
That means BPI had the broader presence in this category, while BDO captured a substantially larger share of leading positions.
Business banking covers services that may be relevant to entrepreneurs, companies and organizations seeking financial solutions.
These can include accounts, payment facilities, cash management, loans and other commercial banking products.
If prospective business customers use AI tools to identify potential financial partners, the prominence of banks in generated answers may influence which institutions they research further.
But the study did not test whether the recommendations accurately matched a particular company’s financial needs.
Business owners still need to compare actual rates, eligibility requirements, fees, service capabilities and contractual terms.
BDO Leads First Mentions Across Four Question Categories
The PRecious study examined four groups of banking-related questions.
These covered consumer banking, business banking, trust and banks’ public roles.
BDO achieved the highest first-mention share in all four groups.
Other reporting on the study identified a 64% first-mention share for BDO in questions involving trust and 75% in business banking.
BPI demonstrated strong overall reach in several categories, including approximately 73% for consumer banking, 96% for business banking and 92% for trust-related questions.
The findings reinforce the difference between appearing frequently and appearing first.
However, questions about trust require particular caution.
An AI model mentioning a bank in response to a question about trust does not mean that the institution is objectively more trustworthy or that customers have rated it more highly.
Actual trustworthiness must be assessed through relevant regulatory, financial and consumer-protection evidence rather than answer position alone.
What Exactly Did the Study Measure?
The research was conducted by communications consultancy PRecious Communications using its proprietary measurement platform, PRecious Pulse.
Its broader Southeast Asian banking research examined how banks appeared in answers produced by multiple AI services.
The Philippine results covered 180 banking answers across 11 AI services.
Researchers assessed two distinct measures.
Answer reach measured how often a bank appeared anywhere in a tested answer.
First-mention prominence measured how often a bank was named first.
This makes the study an assessment of AI visibility, not a ranking of the best banks in the Philippines.
It does not measure the quality of bank management, capital adequacy, loan performance, deposit security, customer satisfaction or the competitiveness of specific financial products.
The results are also tied to the questions, AI services, languages and testing period used by the researchers.
Different questions or model updates may produce different answers.
Why AI Is Becoming Another Banking Competition Channel
For many years, banks competed for customers through physical branches, promotional campaigns, relationship managers, websites and search engine results.
Digital banking applications added another important point of contact.
Now, AI assistants introduce another way for prospective customers to discover financial products.
A Filipino might ask an AI system which banks offer business accounts, what documents are required for a loan or how different savings products compare.
The resulting response can mention particular institutions before the customer visits an official bank website.
That makes AI visibility relevant to marketing and customer discovery.
But AI systems are not regulated financial advisers simply because they can produce comparisons or explanations.
Generated answers may omit relevant fees, rely on outdated information or misinterpret eligibility requirements.
Customers must still verify important details with the financial institution itself.
Another Philippine AI Study Shows Similar Visibility Patterns
Separate research published through the PH AI Visibility Index offers additional context.
The index, produced by Truelogic and updated on October 16, tracks how frequently brands appear across a range of AI discovery services.
In its universal and commercial banking category, BPI recorded a visibility figure of 94.0%, followed closely by BDO at 92.6%.
UnionBank of the Philippines appeared at 76.2%.
The index monitors 121 brands across 11 industries and uses seven AI assistants, with a weekly measurement schedule.
Its methodology differs from the PRecious AI Authority Index.
Therefore, the figures cannot be directly combined or treated as competing versions of the same ranking.
Nevertheless, the separate study reinforces the broader finding that BPI and BDO are highly visible Philippine banking brands in AI-generated discovery.
It also demonstrates why AI visibility should be monitored over time rather than judged from a single set of prompts.
AI Results Can Change Depending on Platform and Language
PRecious emphasized that AI-generated banking answers are not necessarily consistent across services.
Its regional research found that different AI routes sometimes produced different first-mentioned banks even for comparable questions.
Other factors, including language and prompt wording, may also affect the output.
This matters in a multilingual country such as the Philippines.
Consumers may ask financial questions in English, Filipino or combinations of both.
Different expressions of the same financial need could produce answers with different levels of detail or different bank names.
AI platforms can also change their underlying models, retrieval systems and source selection methods.
As a result, a bank’s visibility today is not guaranteed to remain the same next month.
For financial institutions, the challenge is to maintain accurate, accessible and current information across the digital sources AI systems may consult.
What the Findings Mean for Bank Marketing Teams
The study suggests that conventional brand awareness may not be enough to understand how a financial institution appears in AI responses.
A bank may enjoy strong public recognition yet appear inconsistently in generated answers.
Another may be mentioned more often because its product information is easier for AI services to retrieve and interpret.
Marketing and communications teams may therefore pay closer attention to the accuracy and clarity of public product information.
Official websites, customer-support resources, financial disclosures and regulatory announcements can all contribute to a bank’s public information footprint.
However, no institution can guarantee that an AI assistant will always mention it first.
AI answer rankings are controlled by the systems producing the responses, not directly by the banks themselves.
Attempts to influence AI visibility should not replace truthful product information or consumer protection.
What Consumers Should Know Before Trusting AI Banking Recommendations
For customers, the most important message is that appearing first in an AI answer does not necessarily mean a bank provides the best product.
A savings account with a higher advertised interest rate may also have maintaining balance requirements or special conditions.
A loan with a low promotional rate may involve additional fees or requirements.
A credit card may offer attractive rewards but carry charges that affect its overall value.
Consumers should compare the actual terms of the products they are considering.
They should also check information directly through the bank’s official channels, particularly when the decision involves money, personal data or a legally binding financial commitment.
The AI study provides insight into brand visibility, not financial advice or a recommendation to choose one bank over another.
Banking Trust Still Depends on Real Performance
BDO and BPI remain major Philippine banking institutions with extensive operations and established customer bases.
Their size and prominence help explain why both are frequently discussed in business and financial reporting.
But the quality of a bank should be evaluated through appropriate measures.
These include regulatory compliance, financial stability, customer service, security, product terms and how effectively the bank meets customers’ actual needs.
For depositors, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation’s applicable insurance rules and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ regulatory framework provide more meaningful consumer-protection context than AI answer rankings.
For borrowers, interest rates, repayment capacity and loan conditions remain central considerations.
AI visibility is only one element of a much larger banking relationship.
Is AI Discoverability Becoming a New Competitive Advantage?
The growing use of AI for information discovery could influence how banks attract attention.
An institution that appears prominently in relevant answers may be easier for some potential customers to discover.
But this is still an emerging area.
The PRecious research did not establish a causal relationship between AI first mentions and actual banking transactions.
It also did not determine whether users trusted or followed the answers.
A more complete assessment would require evidence about customer behavior, conversions and the accuracy of the generated recommendations.
For now, the findings are most useful as an indicator of how banks appear within the tested AI ecosystem.
The Bigger Battle Between BDO and BPI
The competition between BDO and BPI already spans traditional banking, corporate relationships, financial products and digital services.
AI adds a new dimension.
BDO’s leading first-mention share gives it strong prominence in the tested answers.
BPI’s greater overall reach means it appeared across more of the tested responses.
Both results may matter as financial research and product discovery increasingly take place through conversational technology.
However, the broader banking competition will continue to depend on financial performance, service quality, regulatory compliance and consumer trust.
The challenge for banks is ensuring that digital visibility reflects accurate information about the products and services they actually offer.
BDO currently leads first mentions in the PRecious study, while BPI appears in more AI banking answers overall. But the real winner will not be determined by which name appears first on a screen. It will be determined by whether banks can turn accurate digital discovery into better, safer and more useful financial services for Filipino customers.
