VETERAN banker Walter Wassmer officially joined the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Monetary Board after taking his oath on Thursday at the BSP headquarters in Manila.
Wassmer replaced former member V. Bruce Tolentino and will serve the latter’s remaining term until July 2026.
Tolentino resigned from his position on June 30, along with Anita Aquino, in the wake of the “ghost employees” scandal that put the central bank’s integrity into question.
Wassmer joins central bank Governor Eli Remolona Jr. who is the Monetary Board’s chairman, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto as the Cabinet representative, former finance chief Benjamin Diokno, former national treasurer Rosalia de Leon and former finance undersecretary Romeo Bernardo as members of the BSP’s policymaking body.
A replacement for Aquino has yet to be appointed to complete the seven-member composition of the Monetary Board.
“Walter Wassmer brings with him decades of banking experience, which will prove invaluable to the policymaking body and the decisions of the Monetary Board,” said Remolona.
Of Swiss-Filipino parentage, Wassmer is a graduate of De La Salle University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce, majoring in Management of Financial Institutions and attended the Management Department Program of the Asian Institute of Management.
Wassmer has built a remarkable career in the banking industry, holding a number of positions as he rose through the ranks. The most recent of which was as a consultant and nonexecutive director of BDO Unibank Inc., from 2022 to the present.
Prior to this, he was also the senior executive vice president and head of institutional banking at BDO from 1997 to 2022.
He was also appointed as a senior board advisor of First Philippine Holdings Corp. in November 2022. He resigned from these positions upon his appointment to the Monetary Board by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Wassmer’s earlier roles include serving as senior vice president at Far East Bank and Trust Co. from 1986 to 1997, assistant vice president at Union Bank of the Philippines from 1983 to 1986 and corporate account officer at Bancom Finance Corp. from 1980 to 1982.
With his new role as Monetary Board member, Wassmer is expected to contribute his expertise in keeping inflation in check while safeguarding the peso and further strengthening the Philippines’ banking system.
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