Filipino heads HSBC’s Philippine operations

MANILA, Philippines—British banking giant HSBC officially named on Wednesday treasury veteran Wick Veloso chief executive officer for the Philippines, the first Filipino to be appointed to this top post in the bank’s 137 years of operations in the country.

Veloso will take over the post of Tony Cripps, who will move to his next assignment as CEO of HSBC Bank Australia effective Dec. 24.

The incoming Philippine CEO brings with him 26 years of experience, particularly in the treasury and markets business. In his 18 years with HSBC, he has held a variety of key domestic and regional positions, including head of Asian local currency debt trading and head of credit derivatives for Asia Pacific. He has also undertaken a number of overseas attachments in HSBC offices in London, New York, Tokyo Singapore, Korea and Pakistan.

Veloso is also involved in a number of industry associations that promote capital markets developments in the Philippines. He is currently vice chair of the open market committee of the Bankers Association of the Philippines, and is a past president of the Money Market Association of the Philippines. He also currently sits on the market governance board of the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp., and has been a long-time member of ACI (Assosacion Cambiste Internationale) Philippines, where he served as its 2006 World Congress Organising Committee chair.

“I am delighted with Tony’s and Wick’s appointments and the fact that the group has such depth of talent, we can make appointments of this quality from within,”  said HSBC Holdings chief executive Stuart Gulliver.

Dondi Baltazar, currently senior vice president and head of trading in the Philippines, will become head of global markets for the Philippines, likewise effective Dec. 24.

Baltazar also brings with him over 20 years of experience in the treasury arena. He joined HSBC Philippines as vice president for exchange risk in 1994 and then became senior vice president and head of trading in 2010.

Corrie Dela Cruz-Purisima was named head of global banking and concurrent head of debt capital markets effective Dec.24. Dela Cruz-Purisima has 13 years of experience in finance, nine years of which were with HSBC. She originally worked in credit risk management, before spending the past seven years with HSBC Philippines’ global markets operations, where she was made senior vice president and head of debt capital markets and head of client coverage in global banking in 2009.

Peter Wong, CEO of HSBC Asia Pacific said: “The Philippines is an important market for the HSBC Group. We continue to invest for growth, focused on building a strong and sustainable business in the Philippines. I am sure Wick, Dondi and Corrie will play integral roles in this development going forward.”

Outgoing HSBC Philippines CEO Cripps said: “I am delighted that Wick will be my successor. I have worked very closely with him over my three years in the Philippines. He brings with him extensive experience in the financial services industry, and I have no doubt he will be an invaluable asset to HSBC as it drives towards continued growth in this market.”

Veloso said: “While there is a huge responsibility in being the first appointed Filipino to take on the Chief Executive Officer role for HSBC in the Philippines, I am excited at being able to lead an exceptionally dedicated and talented team to take the Group’s Philippine business forward.”