Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco, a math major who worked briefly for IBM Philippines but spent almost his entire corporate career at the Ayala Group, has assumed his new role as president and CEO of BPI, the country’s second largest bank.
During his first press briefing as the bank’s head honcho, Limcaoco made it clear that he wants to make BPI the “clear and undisputed leader in the banking space”.
Limcaoco said he intends to achieve this goal by building on the digitalization initiatives laid down by former CEO Cesar “Bong” Consing, who presided over the bank’s rapid digital transformation, particularly during the pandemic.
“We need to invest in technology and make our digital tools available to each and every customer,” he said. “With digitalization, we can reach more customers in a more efficient and green manner.”
When asked if BPI is keen on putting up a purely digital bank, Limcaoco said: “We don’t need to do that because BPI is already a digital bank that has physical branches where our customers can still go and do their transactions with us.”
While Limcaoco made a name as a high-powered executive in a number of companies under the Ayala Group, he had a short stint in 1983 as a employee at IBM Philippines where he got the chance to work with Ramon Jocson, who is now BPI’s chief operating officer.
Limcaoco graduated from Stanford University with a BS Mathematical Sciences degree (Honors Program) in 1984 and from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with an MBA (Finance and Investment Management) in 1988.
Before coming to BPI, he was the chief finance officer, chief risk officer, and chief sustainability officer of Ayala Corporation, a PSE-listed company. He was also the chairman of AC Energy International (formerly Presage Corporation) and the president and CEO of AC Ventures Holding Corp.
He was also a director of several Ayala companies, including publicly listed Globe Telecom and Integrated Micro-electronics Inc, and the energy, infrastructure, industrials and healthcare companies of Ayala. He was also a director of the company that operates Zalora Philippines. He remains a director of Mynt, operator of GCash.
Previously, he served as president of BPI Family Savings Bank from 2010-2015 and president of BPI Capital Corporation from 2007-2010. He has also served as officer-in-charge for Ayala Life Assurance and as director and chairman of Ayala Plans.
Limcaoco joined Ayala Corporation as a managing director in 1998. Prior to his appointment as CFO in April 2015, he held various responsibilities including trustee and treasurer of Ayala Foundation, Inc., President of myAyala.com, and CFO of Azalea Technology Investments.
