National Treasurer named new PDIC head

After serving as National Treasurer for almost eight years, Roberto B. Tan has confirmed that he would move to head state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) in February.

After the T-bills auction on Tuesday, Tan told reporters he would take his oath as new PDIC president on Friday. PDIC’s current president is Cristina Q. Orbeta.

PDIC protects depositors against problematic banks.

Last week, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said former National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon would be back in her former post following a two-year stint in the Washington-based World Bank.

Tan was National Treasurer from 2008 to 2012. He took a break when he held the executive director post in 2012-2015 for a World Bank group. He returned to the country to again serve as National Treasurer.

The 62-year-old Tan finished his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Master in Business Administration degrees from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1977 and 1996, respectively. He also finished his Master of Arts and took up doctoral studies in Economics at Fordham University in 1985 and 1988, respectively.

Tan said de Leon would continue to implement reforms at the Bureau of the Treasury, including the New Registry of Scripless Securities (nRoSS) which he said would go live by June.

The nRoSS will “integrate auction and registry operations and consolidate key information from these systems [to equip] the Treasury with better tools for data mining and analytics to support policymaking,” the Treasury said in November.

The nRoSS is also set to minimize operational risks by replacing legacy systems and conform to industry practices and international standards. Furthermore, the nRoSS adds support for the bureau’s existing and future liability management programs and capital market initiatives,” it added. —BEN O. DE VERA