Ayala Corp. announced on Thursday a plan that would see Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala keep his role as its chairman and his brother Fernando succeeding him as chief executive officer (CEO), a day after its banking subsidiary reported a similar change in leadership.
In a statement, Ayala Corp. said this plan, called “CEO Succession Plan,” was unanimously approved by its board of directors and would take effect after its annual stockholders’ meeting on April 23, 2021.
“At Ayala, it is our leaders’ responsibility to nurture talent and plan paths of succession. In this regard, I see myself as no different from our leaders past and present,” Jaime Augusto was quoted as saying in the statement.
“Fernando and I are very fortunate to work with a deep leadership bench; and we are confident that planned leadership transitions such as this are critical ingredients for sustainable success,” he added.
“Moreover, we have the opportunity, with this move of decoupling the chairman and CEO roles, to reflect an evolving global best practice in environment, social and corporate governance.”
Both brothers will keep their current positions as chairman and vice chairman in other boards of their family’s companies.
“It is an honor to continue leading this company with an outstanding and trusted team on our side,” said Fernando, who still keeps his position as Ayala Corp. president. He is also its chief operating officer.
“Together, we have worked hard to build on the many successes of those who came before us; and are committed to continuing to improve lives and create value for our next generations of colleagues, their families, our broad ecosystem of stakeholders and our country,” he added.
The announcement comes a day after Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said it had tapped Ayala Corp. Chief Finance Officer Jose Teodoro Limcaoco to replace Cezar Consing at its president and CEO, effective on April 22, 2021.