This was one more than that posted by Thailand but much less than Vietnam’s 22 or Indonesia’s 26.

According to the publication, the local bank with the highest return on assets was the Manila-based Security Bank Corp. with a return on assets (ROA) rate of 4.6 percent. It is ranked 398th overall in the region.

The ROA measures a bank’s ability to generate more earnings from its reinvested funds.

Security Bank also made it as the region’s fifth highest in terms of return on equity, which measures profits generated with the money shareholders have invested, at 32.5 percent.

Among member states of the so-called Asean+3, Japan has the highest number of top-performing banks at 128, followed by China with 98 and then India with 49.

But according to the magazine published in Singapore but circulated in the region only 10 times a year, Chinese banks overtook Japan’s in all indicators despite the fewer number of its banks in the list.

The Asian Banker ranks the banks in terms of both asset and strength, based on the belief that a strong bank demonstrates long-term profitability from its core business.

According to the publication, the 16 Philippine banks that made the list had combined assets in worth $123.13 billion, compared with Vietnam’s $100.04 billion and Indonesia’s $273.95 billion.

The combined assets of the cited Philippine lenders equal only 0.4 percent of the region’s top 500 and their total net loans of $51.57 billion equal only 0.31 percent of total.

The cited banks also generated deposits totaling $94.34 billion from which they collectively generated profits worth $1.62 billion.

In the Philippines the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported robust lending growth averaging 19.8 percent in August, faster than the previous month’s 19.1 percent.

These loans totaled P2.9 trillion at end-July, which include funds the central bank “borrowed” from the banking system in the form of so-called reverse repurchases or RRPs.