3 Pinays on Forbes power women list

MANILA, Philippines - Three Filipina executives, who are all daughters of known business tycoons in the country, made it to Forbes’ list of the 50 most powerful businesswomen in Asia.

Teresita Sy-Coson, vice chairman of SM Investments and chairman of BDO Universal Bank, was included in the list for the fourth year in a row since its inception.

“Under her (Sy-Coson) lead SMIC became the largest listed company on the Philippine Stock Exchange by market cap. Group revenue in the first nine months of 2014 was up 8 percent on year, to $4.4 billion; net profit rose 14 percent to $410 million,” cited Forbes on its website.

It added that under the leadership of 64-year-old Sy-Coson – daughter of business magnate Henry Sy, who with $12.7-billion net worth was the richest man in the country in 2014, according to Forbes – BDO Unibank had “acquired Citibank’s thrift operations in Manila and Deutsche bank’s trust business” and “bought the country’s largest rural bank.”

Also in the 2015 list is 70-year-old Helen Yuchengco-Dee, chairman of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and eldest of eight children of businessman and former ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco.

Dee was cited for leading the Yuchengco Group of Companies, which includes as subsidiaries its flagship RCBC, non-life insurance firm Malayan Insurance and construction firm EEI.

Her family ranks 23rd on Forbes’ list of richest families in the country with $685 million.

Meanwhile, Zenaida Rustia-Tantoco, 68, chairman and chief executive officer of the SSI Group/Rustan’s Commercial, was noted by Forbes for the increase of revenue of SSI as it debuted on the Philippine Stock Exchange last year.

“Revenue for SSI, which listed 30 percent of its shares in the Philippines in November for $168 million, rose 16 percent in the first nine months of 2014 to $226 million; net profit surged 49 percent to $15.2 million.”

SSI, the Rustan’s Group’s specialty retail arm, is the exclusive franchisee in the country of international brands such as Gucci, Marks and Spencer, Lacoste, Ralph Lauren and DKNY.

According to Forbes, “Tantoco is poised to build further on what her parents founded 60-plus years ago.” The Tantoco family ranked 42nd in Forbes’ list of richest Filipino families in 2014.

“To make the list, candidates have to be active in the upper echelons of the business world in Asia, wield significant power and gave access to robust financial resources,” Forbes noted.