Business based on mutual trust
PBB supports United Auctioneers Inc.
In 1997, despite the seemingly insurmountable shadow of the Asian financial crisis, Dominic Lim Sytin and his family started United Auctioneers, Inc., an industrial auction company with the goal of supplying its customers the equipment they would need to run their businesses. Two decades later, the company that was once seen as such a bold and risky move is now the biggest auction company in the Philippines.
It was in no small part due to the relationship Mr. Sytin has established with Francis T. Lee, Chairman of the Philippine Business Bank (PBB). “When we started our auction business, we needed a dependable bank to take care of our cash management, especially during the entire auction cycle,” Mr. Sytin said.
Giving Mr. Lee a call, he remembered how the banker “readily approved, guaranteed and mobilized people from the head office” to support their endeavor. From then on, PBB has been a partner in the company’s every auction since 1998.
Their relationship had formed years prior, when Mr. Sytin, barely 25 years old, secured a P25-million loan from Mr. Lee, who was then working at another commercial bank. From ‘ face value’ alone, Mr. Lee decided to put his trust in the young man and approved the loan. Later, when Mr. Lee moved to the upstart PBB, Mr. Sytin went to repay him in kind.
“I walked into Philippine Business Bank to open an account to deposit as a payback for the trust and confidence that Mr. Lee gave me,” Mr. Sytin said. “The break that he gave me when I was a struggling 25- yearold entrepreneur, our bond of friendship, and mutual trust and respect is beyond words to describe. And him working with a successful visionary like ambassador Alfredo M. Yao is a combination made in heaven.”
“I have no regrets walking into Mr. Lee’s office that first day that I saw him again at Philippine Business Bank,” he added.
It is that kind of customer- oriented relationship that is the crux of Philippine Business Bank’s business, Mr. Sytin noted. As the bank celebrates its 20th year of providing assistance to local small and medium enterprises, he recalled how much of his own company grew with its help. He expressed his appreciation for how the bank’s management and staff have gone ‘beyond the call of duty’ during his company’s development. Likewise, as the bank’s client, he is delighted to think that United Auctioneers has also helped PBB grow into what it is today. “I would like to think that our very fruitful and beneficial coexistence has been anchored on mutual trust throughout the years and I don’t see any reason why it would not continue to grow for the next 20 years,” Mr. Sytin said. Regarding the future, as United Auctioneers looks towards expanding its operations from Subic to Davao and other provincial locations in the coming year, Mr. Sytin is assured that he can continue to rely on Philippine Business Bank. “Without asking Chairman Francis Lee, I can bet my last dollar that they are going to be there to support us in every venture we get into,” he said.