Former PSE chief to head ING Bank N.V.’s local unit

ING BANK N.V. has appointed the former chief of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to be the Country Manager and Head of Clients of its Manila branch effective November.

In a statement e-mailed to reporters on Monday, ING Bank named former PSE President and Chief Executive Officer Hans B. Sicat as the new country manager and head of clients of its Manila branch.

Mr. Sicat will replace Consuelo “Zondy” D. Garcia, who is set to retire from her post.

The appointment of Mr. Sicat will take effect on Nov. 16 of this year. He will, however, join ING Bank in mid-August “to ensure a smooth transition and will assume both roles upon Ms. Garcia’s retirement,” the bank said.

“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,” Chief Executive Officer of ING Wholesale Banking Asia Gerrit Stoelinga was quoted saying in a statement.

Ms. Garcia has been ING Bank’s Country Manager and Head of Clients for close to nine years. She joined the Dutch financial institution as Head of Financial Markets in 1991.

Mr. Sicat said he is looking forward to forming and growing ING’s business, noting his experience in promoting deeper markets, corporate governance, and financial inclusion “should be supportive and complementary to ING’s role in the financial ecosystem.”

Mr. Sicat has more than 20 years of experience as an investment banker as he as worked for Citigroup and Citicorp and Salomon Brothers in the Philippines, Hong Kong and New York City.

He has been in the global capital market for nearly three decades and has held several external positions, with independent director of Serica Balanced Fund and Master 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, to name a few. — J.M.D. Soliman