Incomplete list

The June-July AC Nielsen survey on the iced tea business shows that Nestea (Nestle Phils.) has a dominant 55-percent market share of the powdered category, followed by Lipton (Unilever Phils.) at 30 percent; and Earth & Sky (The Coca-Cola Export Corp.), at 12 percent.

What’s interesting about these figures is that Nestea held a 65-percent market share a year ago, about the same time Earth & Sky was launched.

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Bank notes 1: Clearly, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin’s list of the highest paid executives among government-owned and controlled corporations is not a complete one.

Take the 2001 list, which includes senior officers of the Development Bank of the Philippines. In that list are then president and chief executive officer Remedios Macalingcag (who is now a director of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co.), executive vice president Victor Villar (who is about to retire), and several senior vice-presidents. Not included in the list was EVP and chief operating officer Edmundo Garcia.

By the way, Remy Macalingcag’s successor, recently resigned president Simon Paterno and incoming president Reynaldo David are covered by an administrative order signed by President Macapagal-Arroyo, which places their monthly salary below the P40,000 received by their immediate boss, Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong.

Now, more than ever, there’s pressure for Nitz Amatong not to retire until maybe next year (she’s almost 70 right now, you know), if only to assure both local and foreign investors the country’s economic policy will not change mid-stream.

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Bank notes 2: Surprise, surprise. Standard Chartered Bank is now the second biggest foreign bank with a full-service commercial banking license (read: head office has pumped in more money) in the country. StanChart (Phils.) is headed by Simon Morris.

Number one is Citibank NA, whose country corporate head James Hunt is so elusive that he’s not even attending tonight’s 2004 Asia Pacific NGO Awards even if Citigroup (Asia Pacific) is a major sponsor.

Number three is HSBC (Phils.), whose chief executive officer Warner Manning must be the most recognizable non-Filipino face (and one of the nicest, too) in the industry.

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Bank notes 3: Here’s an interesting observation about First Savings Bank, which was recently ordered closed by the Monetary Board. You see, First Savings is majority owned by the Yujuico family, which also controlled the board of Central Bank-closed General Bank in the 1970s.

At the time of GenBank’s closure – for the same reason as First Savings – its president was former Commission on Elections chairman and now Lopez Group consultant Christian Monsod.

Chris Monsod’s professional relationship with the Lopez Group go back to the time of the first Eugenio Lopez, the man who diversified the family business from sugar to utilities (Manila Electric Co.) and media (ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.).

At the time of his hiring, Mr. Monsod had just returned from studies in the United States.