HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL
When I got the Viber invite from retired China Bank SVP and Centennial Committee Chairman Alex Escucha, I was given fair warning that my dropping by their restored Binondo heritage site for a private tour would also involve a trip down the family memory lane, as my great-grandfather Guillermo Cu Unjieng, was among the group of 11 Chinese-Filipino businessmen invited by founder Dee C. Chuan to a dinner, to establish China Bank in 1920. It opened for business on Aug. 16, 1920, at Rosario St., and moved to the heritage site building on Calle Juan Luna corner Calle Dasmariñas in 1924.
Designed by German architect Arthur Gabler Gumbert, it boasts of a neoclassical fashion, with a variation of the Beaux-Arts style. Architect Manuel Noche, former secretary of the Heritage Conservation Society, was commissioned for the grand, pain-staking restoration work that we now see standing in this illustrious corner of Binondo. And it is a sight to behold, meticulously restored, and a living testament to the banking and commercial history of our nation.
If you recall, Escolta St. and Binondo, up to the 1960’s, were the city’s finance hub. I even have memories of walking these streets as a young boy, entering Botica Boie for its milkshakes, buying my first records at LR Villar, watching movies at the Capitol and Lyric cinemas; and when visiting my lolo at his Ongpin office, strolling past the Manila Stock Exchange.
China Bank Binondo, with its grand lobby with a vertical clearance of 18 feet, and equipped with elevators with sliding brass doors, is part of this legacy. And it’s wonderful to see how no expense was spared to turn this into a sustainable, disaster-prepared, resilient structure, that should now last, in the words of current Chairman Hans Sy, “for the next 100 years.” Recognition of how commendable this all has been is signified by the two markers we find flanking the side door to the building – one from the National Museum, and one from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.
Dee C. Chuan, at the young age of 31, founded the bank in response to the difficulty for Chinese entrepreneurs to get financing in those days. The existing banks of the 1920’s either catered to landed Filipino gentry, the American-style businesses, and the one owned by the mestizos. The Chinese businessman, with his different style of doing business and bookkeeping; would more often than not, find his requests for financing denied. The premise then was to establish a bank espousing Eastern values and practices, while embracing Western banking systems.
Lawyer Albino SyCip, who became China Bank president in 1940 (and chairman until 1976), is the other important name in China Bank’s early history. Albino is the father of SGV co-founder Washington SyCip, and the story of how Wash was born while Albino was in the US capital, successfully arguing a case at the Supreme Court regarding the rights of Chinese businessmen to conduct their bookkeeping in their own language is the stuff of banking folklore. Wash’s brother, David, would often joke about wondering what his brother would have been named if their father had been arguing a case in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Hans Sy is the present China Bank chairman, and William Whang, the president.
And there’s some poetic kismet to find Hans Sy as the current chairman. His father, Henry Sy, has often mentioned how a China Bank clean loan, based purely on character and trust, was of immeasurable aid in his starting his business – and we all know where that would lead to, with SM now one of the biggest names in the financial and commercial sectors of our nation.
On page 314 of the grand coffee table book, 100 Years of Trust: The China Bank Story, by Raul Rodrigo and Nancy Pe Rodrigo, you’ll find the article Four Generations of China Bank Memories. I can proudly say it’s written by my investment banker brother, Stevie. It recounts his handling the SM Investments and China Bank IPO’s and there’s a deferential nod to our great-grandfather, and our family’s deep-rooted connection to the bank. And it was endearing to see a photo of my great-grandfather beside that of my brother.
China Bank just celebrated its 102nd birthday earlier in the week, on Aug. 16. Happy happy birthday, China Bank! And thank you, Alex Escucha for that most elucidating, enlightening and enjoyable morning, and lunch. Even as I joke about being a “fake” fourth-generation Chinese, who can’t speak the language, there was a part of me filled with pride, knowing that my great-grandfather had played a minor role in the birth of this bank, that stood as a beacon for the 1920 Chinese-Filipino entrepreneurs, that their futures could be bright and had possibilities.