PASIG CITY – Long before the gala in Kuala Lumpur, the setting Samuel Cariño knew best was a branch floor. The Global Dominion Financing, Inc. (Global Dominion) president spends a good part of each month in the field, visiting branches around the country, sitting down with loan officers and processors, and asking borrowers directly how their businesses are doing. Those conversations have a way of finding their way back into how the company lends.
In October, that work brought him to a very different room. Global Dominion was named one of Asia’s Best Performing Companies 2026 at a regional awards ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Cariño and director Ruben Lorenzo Lugtu received the award on stage, with Mark Billante, head of business development, also in attendance. On the same night, Cariño was named one of Asia’s Most Inspiring Executives.
The recognition reflects how much Global Dominion has grown in just three years. Between 2023 and 2025, its net loans to customers nearly doubled from ₱8.28 billion to ₱16.24 billion. Return on equity rose from 29% to 32% over the same period, and the company kept its non-performing loan ratio below 1.6% while it expanded.
Much of that growth went to small businesses. In 2025, Global Dominion allotted ₱6.0 billion of its ₱11.8 billion in total loan releases to MSME financing, serving 14,331 SME clients through 146 branches nationwide. Women-owned enterprises made up 43.81% of its SME portfolio that year.
Two programs helped give those figures a human face. GLOW, short for Giving Limitless Opportunities to Women, offers women entrepreneurs preferential rates, paired with learning and networking opportunities that help them grow their businesses with more confidence. Ka-Partner Academy, the company’s partnership and learning program, works with small business owners on the practical side of running and growing an enterprise. The learning sessions under both programs are open even to non-borrowers, which reflects the company’s view that supporting Filipino MSMEs goes further than approving a loan.
Cariño was quick to point out that he did not get to Kuala Lumpur on his own.
“I was the one holding the trophy, but I didn’t win it by myself,” he said. “This belongs to the associate who opens the branch early, the officer who checks the papers twice before a release, and the managers who back them up. Everyone from our frontliners up to management had a hand in this. I just had the privilege of bringing it home.”
He added that the people he meets on branch visits are often the clearest measure of whether the company is doing its job. “When I talk to our employees and our clients in the branches, I hear what’s working and what isn’t. A lot of what we’ve improved over the past few years started with those conversations.”
The award was regional in scope, but Global Dominion sees its real test at home. The team plans to use the recognition as a reason to work harder at the grassroots level, so the win means something to the ordinary borrowers who keep the company going.
“An award from abroad doesn’t mean much to a sari-sari store owner in the province unless she feels it in how we serve her,” Cariño said. “So we’re going back to the branches. We’ll keep listening, keep improving our loans and our programs, and make sure the people who trusted us early see the difference.”
That means more learning sessions under GLOW and Ka-Partner Academy, closer contact between branch teams and their clients, and continued investment in tools that make borrowing simpler for small businesses. For Cariño, it also means more of the branch visits where this story began.
This article originally appeared on Global Dominion Financing Inc. and is republished here with permission.