Gotianun-led East West Bank has enlisted treasury veteran Jesus Roberto “Bobby” Reyes as its new president and deputy chief executive officer effective May 1, a move widely seen as succession planning for the bank.
Antonio Moncupa Jr. – one of the candidates to be the next Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor – will remain as East West vice chair and CEO, East West said in a press statement on Thursday.
Reyes stepped down as senior executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer of Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines from office effective April 30.
The ruling political party PDP-Laban has endorsed Moncupa to be the next BSP chief.
Asked whether his bank’s move was any indication that he would get the BSP post, Moncupa said in a text message that there’s no truth to rumors that he had been picked to take over this post. “Not by a long shot,” he said.
Aside from Moncupa, other potential candidates to the BSP post are Diwa Guinigundo and Nestor Espenilla Jr., both currently deputy governors, and veteran banker and former Monetary Board member Peter Favila, who also has a strong backing among the president’s key political allies.
“In its efforts to sustain its robust growth and double its total resources in the next few years, EW continues to look for opportunities to improve and enhance its work processes and further broaden and deepen its executive bench.”, EastWest Bank said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.
“It is the duty of the board to do the best for all stakeholders.” Moncupa said, the “strengthening” of the executive team of the bank forms part of the lender’s “forward looking vision” to meet “the challenges of an increasing competitive landscape.”
The bank also announced the appointment of Maria Rita Nisperos as senior Vice President and head of marketing.
“A bank like East West is always looking at opportunities to beef up its executive bench. This step is essential and vital to support the effort to accelerate growth and serve our customers better,” Moncupa said.
EastWest had grown at an annual compounded of growth rate of 25 percent in the last five years, one of the fastest growth rates in the industry, to bring its total resources to P292 billion by end 2016. It also reported a 70 percent increase in net profits to P3.4 billion in 2016.