Aurelio R. Montinola III: ‘MAP Management Man of the Year’ (Part 1)

From an oak-panelled, aristocratic wing of the 19th floor of the landmark Bank of the Philippine Islands building on Ayala Ave.  and Paseo de Roxas in Makati City, Aurelio “Gigi” R. Montinola III has a perfect view of the cross roads of Makati’s Central Business District. He sees a stream of people, from managers to messengers, crisscrossing the heart of the country’s business network.  The scene reminds him daily of his mandate as president and CEO of BPI, the oldest and one of the biggest banks in the country.

“BPI is committed to helping the country,” Montinola tells The STAR a few days before he received the coveted Management Man of the Year 2012 award from the prestigious Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), a day after the Philippines’ 7.1 GDP growth claimed the headlines and a week after news of the negotiations for the merger of BPI and the Philippine National Bank hit the front pages.

“I will just put it again in perspective. We strongly believe that if the country does well, the bank also mirrors the country. And if the bank mirrors the country and the country is doing well, the banking industry will do well and BPI will do well. But that’s just one line of thought. I think the overriding thought is that BPI is consciously or subconsciously, to a variety of people, not only myself, likes helping improve the state of financial affairs of the people, and ultimately the economy of the country.”

Queen Isabella II of Spain seemingly looks at us from a portrait on the wall in the receiving room of the executive floor — the bank was originally named after her when it was founded in 1851. The nobility of service, and the  thick air of noblesse oblige permeates the room even before Montinola walks in for our interview — and he fits right into this mood despite his easygoing charm and scholarly boy-next-door looks.

I cannot help but ask him about the reported talks on the merger of the two banking giants, and Montinola’s expression is as inscrutable as Queen Isabella’s.

“We are in discussion and we have nothing yet to disclose. I think BPI has always had a simple philosophy. We like organic growth as much as possible. But if an opportunity comes up, we can respond very quickly. And then we just see where that opportunity goes,” he says. End. Of. Subject.

His MAP awards highlights Montinola’s “active involvement in micro-enterprise development.” It also lauds the assistance BPI, under his leadership, has extended to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), through “the management of their earnings through educational programs in saving, entrepreneurship and financial planning.”

“I think there are statistics that say that 99 percent of all of the businesses in the Philippines today, in a numerical point of view, are the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). And if you can lend to them, what happens is the country progresses. Something that’s also happening in a place like Germany. Germany is a very strong country not because of its very big names, but because the whole middle market is empowered,” he points out.

Montinola likes to describe the year 2012 as the year full of “bucket list” moments for him. Aside from the MAP award and the upswing in the economy,  he played golf at the Augusta Golf Club in Georgia, a  mecca for golfers, this year. To this father of three girls, all this constitutes his concept of “earthly happiness,” which he defines as “ Doing what I like and liking what I’m doing.”

“Number one, I like balance in life and two, my day job is banking but I do lots of things in different fields. I like to travel, I like to play golf, I like to have good meals, good wine, meet interesting people. So, pretty much, my life is balanced,” says Montinola, who admits  he doesn’t “overdo technology,” either. “I do e-mail and text but I don’t do Facebook, I don’t do Twitter. I like to read.”

And with the economy doing better than expected, he feels pride in its resurgence, having set his shoulder to the wheel in his own way.  After all, this Ateneo de Manila and Harvard alumnus  has witnessed how it was like when the economy was in the pits.

“When I started my banking career (in the early ‘80s), the Philippines was in a mess, economically. Interest rates were at 60 percent. In 1983, when Ninoy was shot and then in 1985, the interest rate was at 60 percent. And now, it is less than one percent. The peso just kept on devaluing and now, we are in appreciation. I remember a time in the ‘80s when there was no foreign exchange. Effectively, we were worse than Greece. Because we had the moratorium. So far, Greece has had no moratorium and I also remember a time when we gave $10,000 to one client because that’s all that we could give and it saved the company. Now, you look at the Philippines today, it has a ‘ problem’ with $82 billion.

“What we have in physical foreign cash is greater than what we owe in foreign debt,” he points out.

Montinola, an accidental banker whose career was jumpstarted by a summer job with Citibank, gives credit to the Aquino government for creating the environment conducive to economic growth

“The government really made a difference. On the business side, we just controlled what we have. For the business people, the mood is much better. And the mood is much better because they are more confident about doing work in the Philippines. The Philippines is beginning to get noticed by the world. So many investment missions, state visits, so many country visits, even in entertainment, all kinds of people are coming through...”

And amid all this, Montinola, 61, sees and reaffirms the bank’s calling. He recounts being pleasantly surprised and happy to be in the same elevator once as the lady who coined 20 years ago the internal battlecry of BPI: “In BPI, People are Important.”

“I always say that people are important. They would say, ‘Who are the people?’ They are the customers and the employees. And then maybe the other way to say it is, when you take care of the customers and the employees, the business results will follow. Rather than the reverse. If you do that, it will work out.”

 (To be concluded)

(You may e-mail me at [email protected])