BIZ BUZZ: Incomplete MB, hobbled BSP
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) hosted on Friday its first bankers’ reception under the leadership of Governor Eli Remolona Jr. and, naturally, industry officials came in droves to get a better understanding of the person who now heads the country’s financial community.
But while the new central bank chief was undoubtedly the star of the show, there were three other “stars”—in the sense that everyone was talking about them—who were the center of attention during the event. And they weren’t even in attendance.
In fact, no one knew who they were.
We’re talking about the three Monetary Board (MB) members that President Marcos has yet to name to the BSP’s top policy-making body. And it seems people are getting a little anxious about the delay.
Why? Well, some important central bank decisions require the approval of more than the four officials currently serving on the board.
Yes, four votes are enough for some MB actions like closing down failed banks. But five votes are required to grant emergency loans to save a bank from collapse, for example. Five votes are also required to order a special examination of any bank suspected of anomalies or having financial trouble.
Five MB members are also required to approve any of the country’s investments or memberships in international or regional organizations, or investing in any enterprise consistent with the BSP mandate.
Most importantly, in case capital flight (knock on wood) hits the peso, five MB votes are required to impose emergency restrictions on exchange operations [with the approval of the President] during a crisis.
Until the three new MB members are named, the central bank is essentially hobbled in a crisis (not to mention being deprived of wisdom and views that could come from the other MB members). So who will these new officials be? Abangan!
—Daxim L. Lucas
New BPI Capital CEO
Veteran banker Roland Gerard “Junie” Veloso is taking on the new hat of an investment banker as president and CEO of BPI Capital.
He will replace Rhoda “Chiqui” Huang, who was enlisted by the Gotianun group to be president of Filinvest Development Corp. effective Aug. 1.
It’s an exciting new frontier for Veloso, currently BPI senior vice president, as it’s the other side of deal structuring. He is ready to look beyond the plain-vanilla corporate lending that he was mostly preoccupied with for the last three decades.
Veloso has been with the Ayala-led lender for nearly 11 years. During the pandemic years, he headed the bank’s corporate credit. He had also led BPI’s business banking as well as transaction banking. When he joined BPI in 2012, he formed the Office of Strategy Management.
Before joining BPI, Veloso spent more than two decades at HSBC, rising from the ranks to eventually head the British bank giant’s wholesale business in the Philippines.
A certified public accountant, Veloso graduated from De La Salle University and placed among the top 1 percent of the accountancy board exams in 1985. He is also an alumnus of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business and the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
—Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
UP gets more from Consunji group
It is well known in business circles that the University of the Philippines (UP) is close to the heart of the Consunji family behind the sprawling DMCI Group.
After all, generations of Consunjis came from UP Diliman’s Institute of Civil Engineering, from the founder David—who was instrumental in building the well-loved UP Chapel—to DMCI Group’s CEO Isidro, and then his son, Victor.
Then there are the DMCI executives who also came from the same institute, including DMCI Homes president Alfredo Austria.
Given such strong ties, it is no wonder then that the Institute of Civil Engineering is a major beneficiary of the DMCI Group, from professorial chairs to lecture rooms, computer laboratory and the 260-seat David M. Consunji multipurpose theater.
The latest addition turned over last week by DMCI Homes is the Universal Testing Machine that will help students determine the quality and integrity of construction materials from metal to concrete.
Said Austria: “Research is very important for innovations, and in companies like DMCI Homes, we always do a lot of innovations for us to be of service to the community around us and to be able to be of value to our customers.”
“The reason we are like this is also because of our education here in UP, civil engineering particularly. I think it’s ingrained in us, being from UP, that we should be of service to the country,” Austria added.
And the group is not stopping anytime soon.
Indeed, even more donations to the Institute of Civil Engineering are in the pipeline, thanks to the DMCI Group.
—Tina Arceo-Dumlao
High-end whisky … library?
What does one of the world’s leading producers of Scotch Whisky do? Why, open a whisky bar … er library, of course.
Tycoon Kevin Tan, whose family owns Top 5 whisky company Whyte and Mackay, announced the debut of The Whisky Library in Newport World Resorts.
The venue offers 240 whiskeys, making it the largest collection in Manila. This includes prized varieties such as the Dalmore Constellation Series apart from other hard liquor.
