Biz Buzz: ‘Filipinizing’ HSBC

“The world’s local bank” will live up to its tagline once it names a Filipino executive as its new country manager.

Effective December, Wick Veloso—who recently accomplished what many thought to be a “mission impossible” in the local capital markets—will be the big boss of HSBC Philippines, while Tony Cripps will head back to Australia.

HSBC is only awaiting approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (which has that fit-and-proper rule) before it announces the changing of the guard, which is expected in the next few days.

But since Veloso currently heads HSBC’s global banking and markets, a post he assumed only last August 15, his upstairs move will have a ripple effect on internal succession in the bank.

From what we gathered, treasury veteran Dondi Baltazar would take over as head of global markets, while Corrie Dela Cruz-Purisima would lead global banking, thus dividing the workload currently being tended by Veloso.

Veloso’s team recently pulled off the impossible when it sold P80 billion worth of San Miguel Corp. preferred shares in a single tranche. The conglomerate used bulk of the proceeds to buy the government’s interests in San Miguel.—Doris C. Dumlao

Women power

The Securities and Exchange Commission is once again under the sway of women after CPA and SGV alumna Antonieta Ibe was confirmed by Malacañang to join chair Teresita Herbosa and Commissioner Juanita Cueto in the en banc body of the regulator.

Male commissioners Manuel Huberto Gaite and Eladio Jala thus now belong to the gender minority in the highest policy-making body of the corporate watchdog.

Ibe will be taking over from Raul Palabrica.

Herbosa says Ibe—a CPA and former chair of the Professional Regulation Commission—is a “very welcome addition” to a group that is dominated by lawyers.

And don’t be surprised if these women corporate regulators push for greater women representation in corporate Philippines.

Cueto says the SEC is now looking at how it can encourage corporations to bring more women into their boardrooms, taking its cue from other regulators abroad, which required companies to be ably represented by women in their boardrooms.

Such a prospective policy is under consideration “only in the name of corporate governance,” Herbosa says, adding that the SEC will go for it if it would have a better impact on corporations.

“To me, it’s just giving proportional representation,” she says.

There are studies showing that having more women on the board usually enhances the value of a company, Cueto adds.

“It’s because women work more effectively,” she says, adding that the SEC will look at statistics on women in boardrooms and study this matter carefully.

“It’s a work in progress,” Cueto says.—Doris C. Dumlao

Desperation play

Word has it that a Chinoy—famous in the local stock trading world, and the person behind a couple of heavily traded mining concerns—is now trying to torpedo what is turning out to be a popular public offering of a new energy company.

Worse, the industry rumor mill is rife about him trying to convince some officials of the energy department into helping further his motives.

According to informed sources, the Chinoy is himself being investigated for his stock market activities. This is because he has been known for “jockeying” his own publicly listed companies despite their relative lack of real activity versus peers that are actually operating out in the field.

These same sources claim that the Chinoy is smarting, again, for failing to take his own similar energy concern public.

Despite his activities that are well known among officials of the Philippine Stock Exchange, he is also known for his Christian activities … to the point of holding Bible study sessions at his residence. Interesting fellow.—Daxim L. Lucas

Neda letter

National Economic and Development Authority Deputy Director General Rolando Tungpalan wrote us to dispute last week’s Biz Buzz item that told of a recent meeting at the agency where the connector road project of Metro Pacific Investment Corp. was presented by Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson.

According to Tungpalan, it is not true that the Neda staffers were “surprised (to put it mildly),” “floored,” “unprepared” and “unaware” of the presentation made by Singson.

Prior to the group’s October 3 meeting, the technical board of the Neda Investment Coordinating Committee included the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road project as part of its agenda.

Previous meetings since last year have also threshed out the project’s technical requirements that needed to be complied with.

Finally, the DPWH—as the project’s sponsor agency—was invited to present its compliance with the technical requirements of the project during the meeting.

Neda’s point is, of course, that there was nothing unusual about Secretary Singson making the presentation about the Connector Road project (notwithstanding the secretary’s protestations to the Office of the President about the parallel project of MPIC’s rival San Miguel Corp.).—Daxim L. Lucas

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