Ayala Land’s Jaime Ysmael: Ready for the challenges of Asean integration

MANILA, Philippines - The fast-paced trend of globalization and regional economic integration has resulted in numerous opportunities and challenges for local companies.

Hence, the pressing need for well-trained and flexible chief financial officers (CFO) to help manage risks and put a company in prime position for growth.

Jaime E. Ysmael, the ING-Financial Executives’ Institute of the Philippines (ING-FINEX) CFO of the Year in 2011, is prepared to take on the challenges head-on and lead the Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), the Philippines’ largest, most diversified and fully integrated property developer.

Intensive post-graduate trainings and a wide experience in numerous corporate tasks have given Ysmael the tools to help ALI sustain its growth trajectory amid uncertainties and intense competition in the property sector.

“(The work experience) was definitely fulfilling as a professional. I learned a lot from it that allowed me to become a better person not just professionally but also emotionally and personally,” Ysmael said.

Fresh from graduating with the highest honors and securing a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, major in Accounting, at the University of the East in 1980, Ysmael started his career in finance by joining leading accounting firm SyCip Gorres Velayo & Co (SGV & Co.).

The first exposure in the corporate world allowed him to develop his analytical ability, work ethics and interpersonal skills ahead of bigger responsibilities, Ysmael said.

In 1984, Ysmael grabbed the opportunity to pursue post-graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

The two-year program is composed of two degrees: Master of Business Administration major in Finance at The Wharton School and the Master of Arts in International Studies with concentration in Latin America. Ysmael belonged to that time’s batch of new breed of managers trained to operate globally.

“When I came back, I was totally a different person. It opened me to a wide perspective of things, changed the way I view things, made me more confident and gave me tools to use,” said Ysmael, who returned to the Philippines and worked at SGV & Co. until 1991.

In an interconnected world, the CFO has to be aware of what happens abroad, especially for a listed company that conducts numerous transactions overseas, Ysmael said.

The Ayala Group, the country’s oldest conglomerate, tapped the skills of Ysmael in 1991. There he handled strategic planning, performance monitoring on subsidiaries, direction setting and special projects.

“It prepared me to assume a direct role,” Ysmael said of his interactions with top executives of the Ayala Corp. subsidiaries.

In 1996, Ysmael was transferred to ALI initially as the controller where he led in tasks like procurement, risk management, treasury, information technology and compliance.

“I was fortunate it’s a big company and quite complex where those skill sets have to be developed,” Ysmael said.

“It completed the entire CFO experience because of size, complexity and depth of operations requiring all these skill sets,” he said.

A critical ingredient to success is the creation of a good team, hence, the need to develop, train and empower executives ahead of bigger responsibilities, Ysmael said. For instance, key personnel of ALI are rotated to different tasks every three to five years to develop their skills.

“We would like to grow people from within as much as possible so we have the same culture. We encourage innovation,” Ysmael said.

Dealing with lots of people also developed Ysmael’s people skills, preparing him for advocacy roles. Ysmael is the president of the Philippine chapter of Asia Pacific Real Estate Association, which is responsible for the development and promotion of real estate asset class within the Asia Pacific region.

Through the years, the CFO role has evolved from number crunching to handling emerging responsibilities.

Risk management and corporate governance is an emerging trend particularly with calls for companies to protect investors and operate in the highest ethical standards, Ysmael said.

Ysmael also described himself as a salesman, promoting the Philippines, the property sector and ALI to investors.

Even major challenges proved to be important lessons to the Ayala Land CFO.

“I was fortunate to experience several crisis: the 1997 Asian financial crisis, dot-com bubble and the global financial crisis. Those were excellent learning opportunities as a professional,” Ysmael said.

All the hardwork paid off with stellar performance for the property giant.

Its profits jumped 30 percent to a record P11.74 billion in 2013 from P9.04 billion in 2012.

The property firm already breached the income target under its 5-10-15 program that was launched in 2009 amid the global financial crisis. It is a five-year plan ending in 2014 that aims to boost the net income of ALI to P10 billion and return on equity to 15 percent.

Another key development is the Asean economic integration, which will facilitate free flow of goods, services, labor, investments as well as capital in the economic bloc starting in 2015.

“The Philippines has a lot of opportunities and excitement now. There is an opportunity for people to be trained abroad,” Ysmael said.

Local firms, for their part, can capitalize on the change to expand operations abroad and contribute to developing frontier markets. ALI plans to launch next year its initial projects in frontier markets Myanmar and Vietnam.

With proper training and exposure to numerous tasks, the public school student from humble beginnings is now one of the country’s top CFOs.

ING and FINEX are again on the lookout for the country’s outstanding CFO.

Ysmael described the ING-FINEX CFO of the Year Award as a gratifying experience. “It is much more gratifying to be honored by colleagues from the industry because they know what it takes,” Ysmael said.