Union Bank of the Philippines Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ana Maria Aboitiz-Delgado has been elected president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), the first woman to lead the industry group since its founding nearly 80 years ago.

Aboitiz-Delgado takes the helm of the country’s primary banking lobby as the sector grapples with the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and escalating cybersecurity threats.

She succeeds Jose Teodoro Limcaoco, president and CEO of Bank of the Philippine Islands, who completed a term focused on digitizing transactions and strengthening the industry’s defenses against financial fraud.

A member of the prominent Aboitiz family, the new BAP president has spent more than two decades at UnionBank. She began her career as a management trainee in 2003 and worked her way through various roles, including retail and institutional finance, customer experience, and digital channels.

Her tenure at UnionBank has coincided with the lender’s aggressive push into digital banking, positioning it as a frontrunner in technological adoption within the local financial landscape.

In her inaugural address, Aboitiz-Delgado emphasized that while digitalization and AI offer opportunities to fuel economic progress, they also introduce a new generation of risks that transcend national borders.

She noted that these challenges are further complicated by geopolitical uncertainties that could impact the local economy.

“As we see the acceleration of digitalization and the potential of AI, we face a next generation of risks that extend beyond individual institutions and national borders. These risks are further compounded by the economic impact arising from geopolitical uncertainty that faces us,” she said.

To navigate this landscape, she called for heightened collaboration between private lenders and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to ensure that public trust in the financial system remains intact.

The leadership transition comes at a time when Philippine banks are managing a shift in consumer behavior toward cashless payments.

During Limcaoco’s term, the association prioritized the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act and worked with the ASEAN Bankers Association to create a regional framework for combating cybercrime.

The association also named Elfren Antonio Sarte Jr. as its new managing director, succeeding Benjamin Castillo, who had held the post since 2017.

Rounding out the new leadership team are Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. President Fabian Dee as first vice president, Land Bank of the Philippines CEO Lynette Ortiz as second vice president, BDO Private Bank President Joseph Albert Gotuaco as treasurer, and Citibank N.A. CEO Paul Raymond Favila as secretary.