US banking giant, Citi, has appointed a Filipino to head its Philippine operations for the first time in 35 years.
The 29-year veteran banker, Paul Favila, was appointed as Citi Philippines’ CEO and Country Officer, replacing Aftab Ahmed who will have a new post as Citi Taiwan CEO.
Citi said Favila is only the second local to head the foreign bank in the country. The first was the late Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Rafael B. Buenvantura who became BSP chief in 1999.
Favila is currently Citi’s Head of Markets and the Country Treasurer.
Favila’s appointment is expected to be approved by the BSP’s Monetary Board soon. One of its members, former trade secretary and current Monetary Board member, Peter B.Favila, is Favila’s father. The elder Favila was also a former Philippine National Bank head.
Favila will lead the bank’s institutional businesses and service center operations in the Philippines. Last year, Citi sold its consumer banking business to Aboitiz-controlled Union Bank of the Philippines.
Favila said the American bank will continue to grow with the recovering economy, as it has done for the past 120 years in the Philippines.
Favila joined Citi in 1993 as Assistant Portfolio Manager for Citibank Global Asset Management. Later, he did other work in Fixed Income Sales, Equity Derivatives Sales and Structuring, and FXLM Trading.
As CEO, he will be responsible for all Citi businesses across the 7,000 franchise in the Philippines.
His boss, Amol Gupte, Citi Head of South Asia and ASEAN, in a statement said Favila will “help take the franchise forward”.
“We remain to be the largest foreign bank in the country in terms of asset base. We have thriving institutional businesses in Banking, Markets and Services and our Citi Solutions Center which provides voice and non-voice services to Citi affiliates, subsidiaries, and branches around the globe,” said Gupte.
Citi currently has 950 multinational companies as clients in the Philippines, plus 100 or more top local corporates.
According to the bank, it is “the sole settlement bank for the Philippine Domestic Dollar Transfer System for the past 28 years handling $3.73-billion worth of transactions daily.”