Nestor Tan
BDO Unibank’s long-time chief executive Nestor Tan was voted the “best CEO” in the Philippines in a poll of investors and analysts conducted by New York-based international finance magazine Institutional Investor.
The survey is a key feature of the All-Asia (excluding Japan) Executive Team, an annual ranking done by Institutional Investor that often serves as an industry benchmark. Apart from the Philippines, the countries in the emerging markets category included Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
“Each voter can nominate up to four CEOs based on their investor engagement efforts. All votes are weighted by place (first, second, third, fourth) and Mr. Tan has received the highest score among all CEOs in Philippines,” Institutional Investor said.
Other CEOs who ranked high in the survey were: JG Summit Holdings president and CEO Lance Gokongwei (2nd) and Ayala Corp. chair and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (third).
This year, the publication had over 4,500 qualified voters, of which around 80 percent were portfolio managers/analysts from the “buy” side or those affiliated with private equity funds, mutual funds, insurance companies, unit trusts, hedge funds and pension funds. The remaining 20 percent of respondents were from the “sell” side such as banks, investment banks, advisory firms, brokerage houses or other firms that facilitate the selling of securities on behalf of their clients.
Together with bank chair Teresita Sy-Coson, Tan led BDO to its journey from a niche player to the Philippines’ largest and most valuable lender today. Upon hitting retirement age on Feb. 26, BDO’s board extended Tan’s term for five more years or until March 1, 2023.
The extension is a vote of confidence on Tan’s managerial capability, as well as his stamina to operate in an industry subjected to a lot of digital disruption and changing landscape. By the end of his extended term in 2023, he would have served for a quarter of a century as president of BDO, probably the longest-serving bank president in recent history.
Tan joined BDO in 1997, at the thick of a very challenging period during the Asian currency crisis, and became president the following year.
Prior to joining BDO, he was chief operating officer of the financial institutions services group of BZW, the investment banking subsidiary of the Barclays Group. He had likewise worked at various foreign financial institutions, among them are Mellon Bank (now BNY Mellon) in Pittsburgh, PA; Bankers Trust Company (now Deutsche Bank) in New York; and the Barclays Group in New York and London.
Tan, who is also the president of the influential Bankers Association of the Philippines, holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from De La Salle University and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.