RCBC reorganizes 14-man board of directors

MANILA, Philippines – Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) has reorganized its 14-strong board of directors as an aftermath to the $81 million bank heist.

RCBC corporate information officer Ma. Christina Alvarez informed the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) about the election of former Securities and Exchange Commission chairperson and Amb. Lilia Bautista, Gabriel Claudio, and former Citibanker Vaughn Montes as independent directors of the bank.

Bautista who also served as chair of the World Trade Organization Appellate Body as well as permanent representative to the United Nations office, WTO, World Health Organization, International Labor Organization and other organizations in Geneva, Switzerland was also named as a member of the bank’s executive committee.

Claudio who was a former director of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) as well as the Philippine Charity Sweepstake Office (PCSO) and the chair of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) was appointed to RCBC’s corporate government and related part transactions committees.

Montes with his vast banking experience as a former Citibanker and director of DBP was also appointed to the bank’s risk oversight, audit, technology and corporate governance committees.

The new directors replaced Medel Nera, Teodoro Regala and Wilfredo Sanchez.

This brought the number of independent directors of RCBC to seven from four. Other independent directors are former Trade Secretary Juan Santos, former Monetary Board member and Board of Investments managing head Melito Salazar Jr., Armando Medina and Adelita Vergel de Dios.

Completing the 14-man board are RCBC chair Helen Yuchengco-Dee, former Prime Minister Cesar EA Virata, RCBC president Gil Buenaventura, Tze Ching Chan, Richard Westlake, John Law, and Yuh-Shing Peng.

Alvarez said Peng was appointed as member of RCBC’s corporate governance committee replacing Dee while Medina was appointed to the bank’s trust committee.

Virata, on the other hand, was named acting chairman of the trust committee.

She added the bank’s board also noted the deferment of the assumption of office of Santos as independent director and his appointment as member of the related party transactions and trust committees.

RCBC was at the center of the money laundering scandal last February after the stolen funds amounting to $81 million owned by the Bangladesh central bank entered the Philippines via its Jupiter branch in Makati City.

After being cleared of the investigation, former RCBC president and CEO Lorenzo Tan tendered his resignation and was replaced by Buenaventura last July 1. RCBC treasurer Raul Tan also tendered his resignation.

RCBC Jupiter branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito and customer relations manager Angela Torres were dismissed by the bank owned by taipan Alfonso Yuchengco for alleged lapses in handling the stolen funds.

Both the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee have completed their respective investigation into the scandal while the Anti Money Laundering Council has filed several criminal cases against several personalities before the Department of Justice.