A prestigious banking and finance publication has extended to Rafael Algarra the Promising Young Banker Award for the Philippines. Algarra is the treasurer of the Security Bank Corp.

The Asian Banker said that under the leadership of Algarra, “Security Bank”s treasury business has grown tremendously.

“It now contributes towards 45 percent of the bank”s revenue, up from 10 percent in 2001,” it added.

The publication explained that the selection process was done by a team of judges and chaired by David Eldon. Eldon is the board chairman of the Dubai International Financial Center Authority, and the former chairman of HSBC Asia Pacific.

Algarra was the only Filipino banker that was recognized by the publication, which also awarded honors to individual bank executives and bank institutions in Asia.

Awarding of the honors was done last March 16 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Besides recognizing senior bankers” contributions to setting the toe fore the financial services industry in 2007, the publication created a new awards series that identifies the most promising young talent in the financial services industry with awards for the best bankers under the age of 40.

The Asian Banker president Emmanuel Daniel said that it was important to celebrate the incredible efforts that outstanding individuals are making to the industry in their early careers.

“They set new benchmarks for talent and are raising the bar for the whole industry,” Daniel added.

Last year, Security Bank recorded a net income of P2.7 billion, roughly 42.2 percent higher than the P1.9 billion realized in 2006. That resulted in a 22-percent return on equity (ROE), or a five-point growth from the 17 percent recorded in the previous year.

Net interest income expanded to P4.6 billion while other incomes grew by nearly 33 percent to P3.4 billion. It recorded a 96-percent expansion to P913.8 million in fee and commission income due to the expansion of its client base.