BIZ BUZZ: Guess who? PNB president coming soon
The race for the presidency of Philippine National Bank (PNB) now appears to be in its final stretch as incumbent boss Florido “Doy” Casuela is expected to bow out of the boardroom of the Lucio Tan group’s banking arm very soon, according to reliable Biz Buzz sources.
Casuela—who is leaving big shoes to fill—has already intimated to some people that he will resign from the board. But he has kept mum on who his successor will be.
We’ve earlier reported about two internal candidates: Dondi Baltazar and Chester Luy, who are both part of senior management.
But we also referred to an ‘external prospect,’ a former bank president, who is also believed to be a strong contender.
We’re talking about Edwin Bautista, under whose term Union Bank of the Philippines embarked on a digital transformation and accelerated expansion with the landmark acquisition of the local consumer and retail banking assets of Citibank.
Bautista had turned over the reins of UnionBank to Ana Aboitiz-Delgado at the start of this year, but remains a director at the Aboitiz-led bank.
PNB is currently the eighth largest bank in the country in terms of assets (about P1.2 trillion as of end-September), one rank higher than UnionBank (P986.5 billion).
The challenge of running another major bank, albeit with more complex shareholder dynamics, may well be within Bautista’s risk appetite.
For his part, Casuela has done a good job of putting the house in order, boosting profitability and allowing PNB, once the country’s largest, to declare dividends for the first time since 2016.
But whoever the incoming CEO is faces another key challenge: improving succession planning.
Although mandatory retirement age at PNB is 60, we hear that many senior positions are being filled either by management contracts (without benefits) or term extension (with benefits) of people past retirement age.
For instance, out of the four executive vice president (EVP) posts, one has been vacant for the past two years, while one has been under extension arrangement.
Such arrangements are said to be quite rampant, resulting in the slow ascent of new blood up the corporate ladder. This could, in turn, affect talent retention in a highly competitive industry.
“Either improve succession planning or change the policy (mandatory retirement age),” a well-placed source commented.
