The main man at Chinatrust Phils.

Joey Bermudez occasionally springs surprises on his banking colleagues. He has turned down offers to head three banks in so many years and then he accepts the job of president of Chinatrust (Phils.) Commercial Bank Corp. "I’m finally ready. I’ve met my own requirements," said Bermudez, who formally takes over today the job of William Go. In turn, Go has moved up to vice-chairman.

"First, I am now mature enough for the job. Second, I know I can now inspire people to rally around elements of a strategic plan. And, third, my family understands that, in many instances, some sacrifices need to be made if I am to be successful in this job."

Bermudez brings to his job 25 years of banking experience. He also brings with him valuable lessons in management that he has picked up from the major influences in his career.

"Rafael Buenaventura is the biggest influence in my career," Bermudez said, referring to the Bangko Sentral Governor and the former president and chief executive officer of PCIBank.

"Seeing Mr. Buenaventura in action has changed my whole perspective of managing people. He has taught me the meaning of empowering your people. He has the uncanny ability of picking the right talent and letting them loose in implementing an organization’s vision while still wielding control."

Bermudez also looks up to Deogracias Vistan, whom he worked with at SolidBank Corp. before it was acquired by Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. last year. Vistan is now the president of Equitable PCI.

"He’s very thorough and persistent. We could be having breakfast when an idea pops up. By the time we finish breakfast, we already have a tentative product idea. That kind of intensity along with Mr. Buenaventura’s skill of empowering his staff are qualities that I seek for myself, that I believe will make me effective as the head of a bank," he said.

Training in Taiwan

In preparation for his new job, Bermudez spent five weeks in the Taipei head office of Chinatrust Commercial Bank, which owns 99% of the Philippine subsidiary. Chinatrust is the largest non-government bank in Taiwan and one of the fastest growing bank in Southeast Asia with total resources of about $16 billion.

"Chinatrust studies and stores customers’ behavioral patterns in a data warehouse. Using these patterns, the bank can design products for specific market segments with a high degree of success. This is very important in consumer banking. Very often, people assume that all consumers behave the same way," said Bermudez, who now plans to build a similar data warehouse in the country.

Bermudez also presented a five-year business development plan for Chinatrust Phils. before the board of the parent company which is chaired by Jeffrey L.S. Koo.

Although the bank has established a niche among Taiwanese and Chinese-Filipino clients, Bermudez’s immediate task is to broaden the bank’s portfolio by 25% annually.

"My plan is to intensify the bank’s involvement with medium-sized enterprises by significantly growing its middle market portfolio; and build a significant cash management business for our clients in the top-tier corporate segment, middle market and Taiwan corporate market. We want to maintain our dominance in the Taiwanese corporate segment by comprehensively providing trade finance, working capital and plant/equipment financing," he said.

In consumer banking, which is Bermudez’s strength, the bank intends to expand its modest home loan business and offer more products for the B and C markets. A credit card product is also being studied.

Expansion

To date, Chinatrust Phils. has an 18-branch network with a portfolio of P8 billion and total resources of P15 billion.

"There’s a moratorium on bank branches but there are ways to go around it. Where feasible and where excellent opportunities present themselves, the bank will acquire existing branch licenses from other banks," he said.

For Bermudez, however, market penetration is just as important as branch expansion. "We are not trying to be everywhere. We want to stay focused on the things we want to provide clients such as adding value to the product and services that we offer."

While most bank presidents have taken a consolidation or fence-sitting strategy, Bermudez believes the current slow economic environment is the best time to morph Chinatrust into the best performing bank in the domestic banking sector.

"I think it is the right time to lay down the infrastructure and to establish all these support systems; to start conservatively and to gradually build on our strengths. Then, when the economy recovers, we will be in a position to take advantage of the turnaround," he said.

Indeed, Bermudez is ripe for the job. He is not walking out on a career-defining moment but embracing it with a full-court press tenacity that he hopes will rub off on the entire organization of Chinatrust. That is no longer a surprise to those who know him well.