Biz Buzz: Modest winner

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. was one of the busiest officials at the recently concluded World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Tokyo, Japan, not only because of several appointments with his foreign peers, but also because of many awards.

We were told that the central bank chief had to rush between two events in one day to receive not just one, but two awards from prestigious international publications. The first, having already been announced two months ago, was his award from Global Finance magazine adjudging him as one of the world’s finest central bankers, having received an “A” grade in its annual ranking for the fourth time since 2005.

What few people knew was that the BSP chief was also named “Central Bank Governor of the Year for Asia” by Emerging Markets magazine, with the awarding ceremonies also held during the World Bank-IMF meetings.

The publication cited Tetangco’s deft management of monetary policy, helping the Philippines dodge the worst effects of the eurozone debt crisis as well as the slowdown of the Chinese economy—making the country’s financial system the envy of others in the region.

Due to Tetangco’s “well-balanced” monetary policy, the Philippines is enjoying “strong [economic] growth with tame inflation and a current account surplus,” Emerging Markets said.

But don’t expect Tetangco to go about town bragging about this. The central bank did not even issue a press release about the award. He was too modest to mention it even to his friends, it seems. And since he doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter account, he was not able to broadcast his achievement on social media either.—Daxim L. Lucas 

Rekindling Philstar courtship

While his attempt to take over GMA Network has been aborted, businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan, or MVP, is not slowing down on the acquisition of media assets. We heard that MVP has rekindled his interest in getting a majority stake in Philippine Star, the country’s third-biggest broadsheet.

Several reliable sources said the businessman—who had looked at Philstar a few years back but shelved discussions in early 2011—was likely to make a new offer (if he hasn’t already done so) to the Belmonte family. One source close to MVP said the group was indeed keen to increase its stake “substantially” from the current minority position. Another source said the businessman was looking at 51-percent control.

Through the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund’s Mediaquest Holdings, MVP’s group controls Associated Broadcasting Corp. television network, which runs TV5 and UHF TV network Nation Broadcasting Corp. It also owns a 10-percent stake in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. MediaQuest Holdings also owns Cignal Digital TV and 30 percent of business broadsheet BusinessWorld.—Doris C. Dumlao

Off to Washington, D.C.

It’s official: National Treasurer Roberto Tan is leaving the role of managing the national coffers—for the next two years, at least—to serve as executive director at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

Tan was officially named to the post during the recent International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings in Japan. Effective November 1, he will represent a group of eight member-countries composed of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Surinam and the Philippines on the board of the multilateral funding agency. Hats off to Bobby Tan, who is very much deserving of the appointment.

Since Tan’s two-year absence will create a void, the next question is, “Who will be the next guardian of the national treasury?” The popular theory is that the new treasurer will be a lady: Finance Undersecretary Lea de Leon.-Doris C. Dumlao

Bouncing back

The last few months have been a difficult time for the mining industry, especially for its flag bearer, Philex Mining Corp., after the latter’s two unfortunate mine spill incidents due to what company officials said was force majeure.

However, things are starting to look up for the country’s largest mining firm.

According to our sources, the company—still smarting from the criticism it received from environmentalists—was set to build a new spillway at its Padcal mine in Benguet after it successfully plugged the problematic sinkhole in one of its tailings ponds.

This will allow the mine to resume operations once ongoing cleanup operations have been completed.

Of course, in addition to actually fixing the problem at the mine site, Philex also has a gargantuan task of repairing its image with its many stakeholders at the local and national levels.

The company also flatly denied its critics’ allegations that it failed to pay benefits and overtime wages to its miners, saying that millions of pesos have already been paid out to employees.

Meanwhile, in another sign that Philex’s luck may finally be improving, the company was recently given a “buy” rating (from “hold”) by German banking giant Deutsche Bank.

Deutsche is, in fact, predicting that Philex will bounce back with a vengeance in 2014.—Daxim L. Lucas

Committee report questioned

Remember the fight between businessman Washington Lou and the local unit of Dutch banking giant ING? Well, the Bacolod-based businessman brought his complaint to Congress, which promptly investigated the issue, through its committee on banks and financial institutions headed by Representative Sergio Apostol.

According to our sources, Apostol’s committee has prepared its final report, which found fault with ING Bank’s practices. According to Lou, these practices included selling him sophisticated securities (despite what he said was his relative lack of sophistication in this area) that caused him to lose $5 million at the height of the recent financial crisis.

However, Rep. Luis Villafuerte, the vice chair of the committee, recently wrote Rep. Apostol and the House leadership questioning the committee report. In fact, Villafuerte sounded incredulous when he complained about not having seen the report despite being the vice chair of the committee that supposedly issued it (without the requisite number of signatures affixed, we’re told).

Villafuerte is now demanding that the “unauthorized” committee report “made at the instance of Representative Apostol” be withdrawn.—Daxim L. Lucas

Maybank in BGC

Some of their Singaporean peers may be profit-taking, but not the Malaysians, who are increasingly drawn to the Philippine growth story. While CIMB is only awaiting the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas of its entry into the Philippine market with the acquisition of a controlling stake in Bank of Commerce, Malayan Banking Bhd cannot wait to expand its local banking franchise, Maybank Philippines.

Reflective of its greater aspiration in the Philippine market, Maybank Philippines will establish its new Philippine corporate headquarters in Bonifacio Global City—moving closer to the hub of top-tier local and multinational corporations. For the longest time, Maybank has operated its head office out of Manila, even while most of its foreign peers are nestled in the Makati or Bonifacio central business districts.

This will all change next month, however, as Maybank is relocating to its new BGC home. The five-story, 3,200-square-meter Maybank Corporate Center along Bonifacio High Street was acquired through a long-term lease contract with the Ayala group.

Maybank Philippines is capitalized at P5.6 billion, with the last equity infusion of $50 million from its parent having been made two years ago. Seeing that the Philippine unit has employed its capital very well since then, the Malaysian parent bank is expected to bring in another “really significant” equity infusion by the first semester of next year.—Doris C. Dumlao

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