MANILA, Philippines – As Ayala Corporation’s chief financial officer (CFO) Alberto de Larrazabal prepares for retirement in 2026, the conglomerate has tapped one of its own to succeed him.
Juan Carlos Syquia, who is currently the executive vice president and head of institutional banking at Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), has been appointed as the deputy CFO of Ayala starting May 1. He will assume De Larrazabal’s role on January 1, 2026.
“We are pleased to have John-C join us at Ayala Corporation,” Ayala president and chief executive officer Cezar Consing said in a stock exchange disclosure on Thursday, January 23.
“His extensive banking experience, strong financial acumen, and proven leadership give us great confidence that Ayala’s financial leadership will remain in very capable hands.”
Syquia said he is “very honored” to work for the conglomerate. “I look forward to working closely with Albert and the rest of the senior leadership team to drive Ayala’s pursuit of growth, innovation, and nation-building.”
The company will hold an organizational board meeting on April 25, after its annual stockholders meeting, where he will be elected as deputy CFO. He will be working with de Larrazabal before officially taking his post as CFO.
Syquia has a Masters in Business Administration in Finance and International Business from Fordham University and finished his bachelor’s degree in Management Economics at Ateneo de Manila University.
Syquia has over three decades of experience in corporate and investment banking. He previously served as the president of the BPI Capital Corporation, the investment banking arm of BPI, from 2016 to 2017.
Prior to joining the Ayala Group of Companies, Syquia was the country head of corporate clients at Standard Chartered Bank for the Philippines from late 2011 to early 2016.
He also spent 17 years with the ING Group with various leadership roles from working with ING Bank in Manila to ING Asia Pacific Ltd.
According to Syquia’s BPI profile, he started out by joining the BPI Officer Training Program in 1990 and a year later, was part of a two-man team that created the bank’s Corporate Banking Division in Cebu. – Rappler.com
