RCBC president and CEO Lorenzo Tan resigns

MANILA, Philippines – Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation president and CEO Lorenzo Tan has resigned, RCBC announced on Friday, May 6.

“The board of directors of RCBC has accepted with regrets the resignation of Mr Lorenzo V. Tan as president and CEO effective 6 May 2016,” RCBC said in a statement.

“He resigned to give the Board a free hand in directing the course of the Bank’s future,” it added.

Until his replacement is announced, Helen Y. Dee will oversee the bank’s operations as president and CEO, supported by a management team composed of RCBC vice chairman Cesar EA Virata, Director Armando Medina and the current group of senior managers, the bank said.

RCBC noted that its internal investigation into the stolen $81-million Bangladesh Bank funds cleared Tan of any breach of bank rules and policies. (READ: How Bangladesh Bank dirty money easily got into PH)

RCBC said that Tan, who joined the bank in 2007, had steered it “to unprecedented growth in its 55-year history.”

“He oversaw the expansion of RCBC’s network from 294 branches in 2006 to 475 as of March 2016; ATMs, from 257 to 1,405; and customer base from 800 thousand to 7.32 million. Last year, RCBC posted a net income of P5.1 billion, up 16.3% from 2014,” the bank said. 

Tan is the latest RCBC top executive to quit following the investigation of the largest money-laundering case in the Philippines. Part of the stolen funds found its way to several accounts in the RCBC branch in Jupiter in Makati City, and ended up in 3 local casinos.

Raul Victor Tan, the bank’s treasurer and executive vice president, resigned in April, since Maia Santos-Deguito, one of the central figures in case, had worked under him.

Like Lorenzo Tan, RCBC’s internal investigation had cleared him of involvement in the money-laundering case. – Rappler.com