Acevedo confirms resignation from PNB

TREASURY GURU. Eugene Acevedo boosted PNB's presence in financial markets, and beefed up the bank's treasury team.

MANILA, Philippines—Banker and treasury veteran Eugene Acevedo confirmed an earlier Philippine Daily Inquirer report that he had resigned from his post as the president and CEO of the Lucio Tan-controlled Philippine National Bank (PNB) on Saturday.

In a mobile phone message, Acevedo said he had been “seriously thinking of taking an entrepreneurship sabbatical” to take advantage of his relatively young age. “Very recently, several opportunities have become available and these require focus.”

He did not provide details but said that he and his business partners “are constrained from making any official announcement until such matters are taken up” by the group’s corporate governance body and board of directors.

Acevedo’s departure from the publicly listed universal bank came a few weeks after the departure of businesswoman Gloria Tan-Climaco – with whom the bank president was reportedly allied – from the boards of various Lucio Tan group firms.

PNB is the sixth-largest bank in the country in terms of assets.

According to banking industry sources, Acevedo will be replaced at the bank’s helm by veteran banker Lito Pedrosa who currently sits on the board of PNB. Pedrosa was formerly with the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. where he headed its treasury operations, and was eventually appointed to the bank’s board. At present, he is also a member of the Market Governance Board of the country’s bond exchange, the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.

Acevedo’s resignation comes a little over 13 months after he was officially appointed president of PNB and tasked with revitalizing the bank after it had successfully recovered from a government-supervised rehabilitation program in the previous decade.

Sources of the Philippine Daily Inquirer indicated that Acevedo had a three-year contract as PNB president.

In the previous year, Acevedo – who has over two decades of experience in the field of treasury operations – boosted PNB’s presence in financial markets and beefed up the bank’s treasury team through the addition of several high-profile market practitioners.

“[Acevedo] was perceived as being closely allied with Gloria Tan-Climaco, so that didn’t help when she left the [Lucio Tan] group,” a source familiar with the issue said.