Bigger bank, broader base: TG Limcaoco’s BPI years

After five years at the helm of the 175-year-old Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco is ready to say goodbye to the country’s oldest bank.

Limcaoco will step down as president and chief executive officer in April 2027, making way for consumer banking chief Maria Cristina “Ginbee” Go, BPI’s first female CEO. He will remain on the board and take on other senior roles within the Ayala Group.

Five years is a short chapter for a bank that has survived colonial governments, wars, and economic crises. But Limcaoco was hardly new to BPI or the Ayalas when he took the helm in 2021. He had been president of BPI Capital and BPI Family Savings Bank, then spent six years as Ayala Corporation’s chief financial officer.

The bank he inherited from Cezar “Bong” Consing was already one of the country’s largest. The one he will leave behind is considerably bigger.

BPI’s annual net income rose from P23.88 billion in 2021 to P66.62 billion in 2025, while assets grew from P2.42 trillion at end-2021 to P3.9 trillion by September 2026. Its customer base more than doubled to over 19 million, helped in part by the 2024 merger with Robinsons Bank.

But enough of the numbers, and back to the man of the hour. Limcaoco isn’t your typical banker who shies away from the media. He’s frank, sometimes even blunt, and always ready to break down a tough banking topic with an example or two.

Ask him about bank secrecy, and he’ll point out that few countries have laws as restrictive as the Philippines’. Ask about reserve requirements, and he’ll explain why he prefers interest rates as a monetary policy tool.

When Rappler asked last July why BPI made transfers free, he explained that under new central bank rules, it could charge only around P1.50. Why bother customers over that amount?

“You’re just needling the customer,” he said.

BPI became one of the first major commercial banks to permanently waive InstaPay and PESONet fees, with others following with cuts of their own. There was a business case, too. Free transfers could keep customers using BPI and perhaps bring in more business.

Much the same thinking has gone into the bank’s expansion into agency banking under Limcaoco. Customers can now open accounts, deposit, and withdraw money at participating supermarkets and convenience stores — often for free — while BPI avoids some of the costs of branches and ATMs.

In a March interview with McKinsey, Limcaoco summed it up: “Our philosophy is, if you cannot come to the bank, we will bring the bank to you.”

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, who has taken a particular interest in the program, had some rather warm words for Limcaoco.

“Ang galing ni TG (TG’s great),” she told Rappler in a recent chat about financial inclusion. “My experience with him, he was really looking for ways to help give everybody a bank account. He’s made it so simple.”

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At BPI’s 175th anniversary gala in October, chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala credited Limcaoco with bringing “real dynamism” to the bank, while welcoming to its next chapter under Go.

Limcaoco, meanwhile, spent much of his own speech looking beyond his time at the bank. He wondered aloud what banking might look like 25 years from now, when BPI celebrates its 200th anniversary.

“I don’t think any of us can predict exactly what banking will look like by then,” he said. 

Yet he was clear on one unfinished job: “Millions of Filipinos still have limited access to formal financial services.”

GALA. BPI president and CEO TG Limcaoco (right) looks on as BPI chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala congratulates writer Roel Landingin. BPI

But Limcaoco isn’t always dressed up to the nines. A rather different side of him was on display two months earlier, on August 1, BPI’s actual birthday, when the bank launched a Disney-themed savings account for children.

After a morning of golf, Limcaoco, a grandfather himself, was at Glorietta — an Ayala mall, of course — talking to children about setting aside part of their allowance. As he often does, he brought the idea down to their level. Compound interest might mean little to a child, but saving for a bicycle or a dog was easy enough to understand.

“Maybe a kid puts P100 a month,” he told Rappler afterward. “The magic of interest, even though it’s small, really is meaningful.”

Meanwhile Go, then still a few months away from being officially announced as his successor, took the chance to tease her boss, joking during her remarks about whether the children should call him “Lolo TG.” 

For that morning, at least, the man running one of the country’s biggest banks was simply Lolo TG, talking to kids about what they could do for their future. – Rappler.com

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