Fernando Zobel de Ayala to take over as Ayala Corp. CEO; JAZA to focus on chairmanship

Ayala Corp. (AC), the Philippines' oldest conglomerate, on Thursday announced more leadership changes moving forward with chief executive officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala set to focus on his role as chairman effective April 23, 2021.

In an emailed statement, AC said Zobel will vacate his post as chief executive officer which will be filled up by his brother and current AC chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala, who is also currently president of the company.

"At Ayala, it is our leaders’ responsibility to nurture talent and plan paths of succession. In this regard, I see myself as no different from our leaders past and present,” said Jaime Augusto.

"Fernando and I are very fortunate to work with a deep leadership bench; and we are confident that planned leadership transitions such as this are critical ingredients for sustainable success. Moreover, we have the opportunity, with this move of decoupling the Chairman and CEO roles, to reflect an evolving global best practice in Environment, Social and Corporate Governance," he added.

"It is an honor to continue leading this company with an outstanding and trusted team on our side... Together, we have worked hard to build on the many successes of those who came before us; and are committed to continuing to improve lives and create value for our next generations of colleagues, their families, our broad ecosystem of stakeholders and our Country," said Fernando.

The Ayala Group earlier this week already announced key changes, with the scheduled departure of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) president and chief executive officer Cezar "Bong" Consing who reached retirement age last year and consented to extend his term to ensure an effective transition.

AC chief finance officer and veteran banker Jose Teodoro "TG" Limcaoco is set to take over the BPI leadership position. His positions of CFO, Chief Risk Officer, and Chief Sustainability Officer will be filled by Globe Telecom Inc. chief commercial officer Alberto de Larrazabal.

Globe Consumer Business Group head Maria Louisa Guevarra-Cabreira has been nominated to fill up the to-be vacated spot of de Larrazabal, for election on April 23, 2021. — RSJ, GMA News