New faces at Bank of Commerce
Bank of Commerce welcomes a new member to the Board of Directors, former Ombudsman Aniano A. Desierto. Former Secretary of Finance and Land Bank president Margarito B. Teves also joins Bank of Commerce as Board advisor. These appointments were approved at the Board of Directors meeting held last July 26, 2013.
Desierto was in private law practice in Cebu and Manila before he entered government service in 1974 as government prosecutor for the AFP. He was appointed Ombudsman from 1995 to 2002. He also held various positions in corporations including as chairman of the PNOC Development and Management Corp.
As Board advisor, Teves brings with him extensive banking experience having been appointed president and CEO of Land Bank of the Philippines in 2000. He then assumed the Finance portfolio as Secretary of Finance from 2005 to 2010. UK’s The Banker Magazine named him 2009 Finance Minister of the Year in Asia.
The Board of Directors also elected Roberto C. Benares as president and CEO of the bank effective August 1, 2013, replacing Sergio G. Edeza.
Benares served as managing director of Maybank ATR Kim Eng Capital Partners Inc. prior to joining Bank of Commerce. He started his banking career at Bancom Development Corp. as assistant treasurer and later at United Coconut Planters Bank, as vice president for Account Management. He held various positions at Asian Alliance Investment as managing director, Insular Investment & Trust Corporation as executive vice president and Philamlife as vice president. He was elected a director of Bank of Commerce on April 30, 2013.
Benares holds a degree of BS Mechanical Engineering from De La Salle University and has a Masters Degree in Business Management at the Asian Institute of Management.
Bank of Commerce is a medium sized bank, ranked 16th among local commercial banks in terms of assets. It has positioned itself in delivering quality products and services to its customers: deposits and cash management products, corporate and commercial loans, consumer loans, credit cards, international trade services and remittances, treasury and trust products. At the end of of June 2013, net income reached P255 million with assets reaching P108 Billion. To date, the bank has 122 strategically located branches and 368 ATMs located in on-site and offsite locations bringing its brand of service closer to customers.