The AI Authority Index study from PRecious Communications found that presence in an AI answer does not equal leadership. In the Philippines, BPI secured the broadest answer reach across banking questions. Meanwhile, BDO claimed the highest share of first mentions in every tested question group.
What the AI Authority Index Found in the Philippines
The study tested how AI answers treat Philippine banks across four question groups. Specifically, BPI led reach in three of them. It appeared in 73% of consumer banking answers, 96% of business banking answers, and 92% of trust and choice answers.
However, BDO led first mentions in all four groups. It earned first mention in 75% of business banking answers and 64% of trust and choice answers. Furthermore, it led first mentions in public role and ESG questions at 35% and in personal banking at 31%.
Notably, the contrast is sharpest in business banking. BPI appeared in 96% of answers, yet BDO earned first place in 75% of responses. Similarly, BPI led consumer reach at 73%, while BDO led consumer first mentions at 31%.
Why Visibility and Prominence Are Different Jobs
“The Philippine result makes the distinction very clear: visibility and prominence are different jobs,” said Paolo Alba, Regional Vice President and Philippines Country Lead at PRecious Communications. He added that communications teams need to know what AI says about a bank, why it places the bank there, and whether the supporting story reflects real customer experience.
Likewise, the study’s banking matrix shows the same split. BDO sits in the “leading when included” quadrant. It appears less often, but it earns first mention more often when it does. By contrast, BPI sits in “included, not leading.” It appears often, but it earns first mention less often. The matrix shows relative positions, not absolute bands.
Southeast Asia Is Not One Information Environment
Zooming out, the regional study covers Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It found consistent leaders in some markets and divided patterns in others. Different languages, banking structures, and customer needs already make Southeast Asia diverse. Therefore, AI can amplify that diversity by changing the brands, evidence, and answer order that different audiences see.
Across six markets, 11 AI routes, and 396 cross-service answers, AI services named a different bank first in 43% of matched comparisons, or 706 of 1,628 pairs. Additionally, business banking answers named 34% more banks on average than consumer banking answers, at 4.73 banks versus 3.52. As a result, a single AI platform or dashboard score cannot describe a brand’s digital reputation.
What the Study Does Not Say
First, the study is diagnostic. It does not rank bank quality, trust, safety, customer preference, or financial performance. “First mention in an AI answer is not an endorsement or a measure of customer preference,” cautioned Lars Voedisch, Founder and Group CEO. “It indicates narrative order.”
Moreover, the results are a point-in-time snapshot. They can change as AI services, search, and public evidence change.
What Communications Teams Can Do
Overall, the strategic takeaway splits in two. BPI must convert high presence into leading prominence. BDO, meanwhile, must keep verifying the sources behind its leading position. Voedisch urged Philippine communicators to examine what AI says about their institution, not just how often the name appears.
How the Study Was Tested
The AI Authority Index tracks 13 priority banks grouped by home market, plus three global examples: HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Citibank. The Philippine banks are BPI and BDO. Meanwhile, the tests ran across 11 AI routes: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Search, Copilot, Meta AI, Grok, Qwen, DeepSeek, and Kimi. In addition, the full study spans eight languages. However, the team did not test every language in every market or on every route.
PRecious Pulse is the measurement and research platform behind the work. Readers can find the full report online.
About PRecious Communications
PRecious Communications is a multi-market integrated communications consultancy focused on go-to-market strategies and data-driven storytelling across Southeast Asia. It runs offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
