In the Philippine banking industry, Lorenzo Villanueva Tan is called “Mr. Turnaround” for good reasons.
The 63-year-old banker has a seemingly endless litany of accomplishments, starting in 1998 when he became the youngest president of a universal bank in the country at age 37.
Presently, Tan sits as president and chief executive of the Yuchengo-led House of Investments Inc. (HII). He is the concurrent vice chairman of the Pan Malayan Management and Investment Corp., the controlling company of HII and served as president and chief executive of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).
He is a son of Philippine Constitutional Association governor Rufino Tan and brother of BDO Unibank Inc. president Nestor V. Tan.
His world, indeed, revolves around the banking and investment sectors.
There were several shining moments in his career, and one of them came in 2011 when he sold a mansion at the posh Forbes Park in Makati City to boxing legend Manny Pacquiao for a whopping P388 million.
The record-breaking deal sent prices of real estate at the elite subdivision skyrocketing.
Tan’s curriculum vitae will show that he has expansive experience in banking here and abroad. He held various positions in Citibank N.A. and Citibank Singapore from 1987 to 1995 where he sat as director of Regional Financial Advisory of Citibank Singapore (1993 to 1995), vice president of Global Finance of Citibank Los Angeles, USA (1991 to 1993) and assistant vice president of Citicorp Real Estate of Citibank, New York (1987 to 1991).
Tan also served as director of four different corporations in five industries.
Tan was also former president and chief operating officer of United Coconut Planters Bank and vice chairman and director of the UCPB Savings Bank and the UCPB Rural Bank.
He also held executive positions in Minola Corp., HLG Capital Philippines and HLG Assets Management (Phils.) Inc., state-run National Food Authority, Philippine International Trading Corp., Island Country Telecommunications Inc., the Orion Land Inc., Tutuban Properties Inc., the Dao Heng Bank, the Philippine International Trading Corp., Island Country Telecommunications Inc., Orion Land Inc., Tutuban Properties Inc., Dao Heng Bank, Pepsi Cola Products Phils. Inc., First Lepanto Taisho Insurance and the Bradstock Aurora Insurance Brokers.
Tan was president and CEO of RCBC for nine years, from 2007 to 2016 during which the company attained unprecedented net income growths.
During his watch at RCBC, the bank ran into financial trouble of epic proportions. In February 2016, RCBC was implicated in the so-called Bangladesh Bank heist when one of its branches was used as a depository of $81 million believed part of $951 million stolen from the Bangladesh Central Bank.
Amid the mess, Tan voluntarily stepped down to give investigations a free hand to take their due course. He was eventually cleared of all charges, but the branch’s female manager was found guilty and sent to prison.
On March 23, 2020, the United States District Court in New York finally dismissed the case filed by Bangladesh Bank against RCBC and its officers for lack of evidence to back its Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) charge.
To turn the pages of history, it was also during Tan’s tenure as president when the bank secured several equity and debt capital raisings, including Cathay Life Insurance Co. of Taiwan to the tune of P8 billion in 2015, and CVC Capital partners of $115 million in 2012, as well as International Finance Corp. of $320 million bond issue, deemed as the “largest dollar-denominated bond” by a domestic bank.
