MANILA – Consuelo “Zondy” D. Garcia will retire as Country Manager and Head of Clients of global ING Bank’s Manila Branch effective November 16, 2017, and will be replaced by Hans B. Sicat, former president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE).
Sicat will join the bank mid-August to ensure a smooth transition and will assume both roles upon Garcia’s retirement, the bank said in a press advisory.
Sicat ended his six-year stint at PSE in May 2017, and has chalked up over two decades of experience as an investment banker. He had previously worked for Citigroup and its predecessor firms Citicorp and Salomon Brothers in the Philippines, Hong Kong and New York City.
A trained mathematician and economist, Sicat has been involved in the global capital market for about three decades. He has held various external positions, such as independent director of Serica Balanced Fund and Master Fund (a hedge fund), member of Euromoney Institutional Investor Asia advisory board; independent director of the Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corporation; member of the board of trustee of Securities Investors Protection Fund; chairman of the emerging market working group of the World Federation of Exchanges; and executive-in residence of the Asian Institute of Management.
Garcia has been ING Bank’s Country Manager and Head of Clients for almost nine years. She joined the Dutch financial institution in 1991 as Head of Financial Markets, where she steered the bank to a dominant position in market making of Philippine global high yield and credit derivatives and as a top arranger for local debt capital markets.
During her term as Country Manager, ING Bank said Garcia played a pivotal role in the divestment of the branch international private banking and asset management businesses pursuant to the bank’s global strategy to focus on commercial and investment banking. She developed the Philippine business into an award-winning franchise, recognized consistently by other industry groups as the Top Fixed Income and Mergers and Acquisitions House.
The bank advisory described Garcia as a staunch and passionate advocate of good governance and integrity initiatives. For 11 years now, ING has been jointly sponsoring with the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) the annual search for the ING FINEX CFO of the Year.
ING also holds the distinction of being one of only 12 Philippine firms in the advanced category ranked by the Integrity Initiative, a private sector-led campaign that aims to strengthen ethical standards in business.
In her capacity as a director in two industry organizations, the Bankers Association of the Philippines and FINEX, Garcia also pushed for major capital market reforms in the industry.
Within ING’s global network that spans more than 40 countries, the Manila Branch, under Garcia’s leadership, has also stood out for its comprehensive CSR activities and strong partnerships with global non-profit organizations. Among these are the two ING Villages that host more than 200 houses for families displaced by typhoons, the distribution of more than 1,200 bikes in six schools in Isabela and Zambales as a pilot for the ING Asia Orange Bike Project, and the ING Learning Center regular tutorials for school children and scholarship grants for high school and college.
“ING is grateful to Ms. Garcia for her engaging leadership style and the entrepreneurship that she promoted at ING Bank Manila. She always put our clients first. We will miss her dearly and wish her all the best for her well-deserved retirement. We are fortunate to have found a worthy successor in Mr. Hans Sicat,” said Gerrit Stoelinga, CEO of ING Wholesale Banking Asia.
Sicat said he hopes to build on and expand the business that Garcia and the ING global team have successfully established. He said his experience in promoting deeper markets, corporate governance and financial inclusion should be supportive of and complementary to ING’s role in the financial ecosystem.
