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Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Mr. Rafael B. Buenaventura assumed the position of Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) on July 6, 1999 following a long and distinguished career in private commercial banking spanning more than thirty years. He has been the recipient of many business awards, including “One of Asia's Most Outstanding Bankers” by Asiamoney in 1991 and the “Central Bank Governor of the Year for the Asian Region” by The Banker magazine in 2001. Mr. Buenaventura is the first Central Banker to receive that award from The Banker, a sister publication of the Financial Times, as it began a yearly awards program for the first time in its 75-year history.
For 10 years, Mr. Buenaventura was President and CEO of the PCI Bank and Chairman of various companies of the PCI Bank Group. During his tenure, PCI Bank was given recognition by many top business magazines for its leadership in banking. Before that, from 1985-1989, Mr. Buenaventura held many senior positions at Citibank. From 1985-1989, he served as Senior Vice President and Division Executive for Southern Europe, responsible for Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Turkey. As Chief Executive Officer of Citibank in the Philippines from 1982-1985, he was involved in restructuring negotiations of the Philippines sovereign debt. From 1979-1982, he served as Senior Vice President and Regional Treasurer in Hong Kong, managing the treasury activities of Citibank in 12 countries. He served as Merchant Bank Head in Singapore, from 1972-1974, and as Chief Executive in Indonesia from 1974-1976 and Malaysia from 1976-1979.
At the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Governor Buenaventura took a pivotal role in the crafting of the Anti-Money Laundering Law in 2001 which linked the Philippines with the global campaign of the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the body that is tasked to implement the law, with the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Chairman of the Insurance Commission, as members.
Under Governor Buenaventura's administration, the Bangko Sentral has undertaken major reforms to bring local standards in transparency, risk management and prudential supervision in line with international norms. Some of the major reforms include the adoption of risk-based capital adequacy standards, the introduction of inflation targeting as a framework for monetary policy, the formulation of measures to address dollar speculation and exchange volatility, the consolidated supervision of financial conglomerates. The Bangko Sentral has also issued rules and regulations to provide the administrative framework to combat money laundering.
Governor Buenaventura was President of the Bankers Association of the Philippines from 1994-1997, and Chairman of the ASEAN Banking Council from 1996-1997.
A graduate of De La Salle University, Bachelor of Science in Commerce, in the Philippines, he took his MBA at Stern Graduate School of Business, New York University. He also attended the Advanced Management Program of Harvard University and the University of Hawaii.
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