Taking bold steps toward achieving banking excellence
(First published in the Philippine Star, August 5, 2011)
(Article courtesy of Abby Rebong)
As the Bankers Institute of the Philippines (BAIPHIL) celebrates the induction of its new set of officers, led by incoming BAIPHIL president Agnes Brillante-Santos, the Institute remains steadfast in its mission to support the banking industry in enhancing productivity and keeping abreast with relevant developments through continuing education. Together with incoming BAIPHIL first vice president, Salvador Serrano, Brillante-Santos is excited to share what’s ahead for BAIPHIL, Fiscal Year 2011-2012, which she believes is best summarized in the current theme, BAIPHIL beyond 70: Taking Stock, Harnessing Strengths, Forging Ahead.
“We have lined up a number of excellent projects that will surely boost the value proposition of BAIPHIL as a premier training partner of the banking industry. I expect BAIPHIL to grow in two ways, in terms of the number of members and in its ability to serve the training needs of the banking industry in an innovative and professional manner, with each way fuelling the growth of the other.” says Brillante-Santos with regard to how does she see BAIPHIL growing under her leadership this year.
Challenge Accepted
With a full year ahead of her and her team, Brillante-Santos admits that the challenge to take BAIPHIL to the next level actually excites her, “Challenges make me feel alive! I actually couldn’t think of a time when I backed out of a worthwhile one. Whenever I accept a responsibility, I always give my best. I feel great stress up to the moment when I have thought of and formulated a good plan. From then on, as in all my other undertakings, I focus my thoughts and energy on things that need to be done to keep my mind off worries and stress. Pressure is then borne by the people who are tasked to do the legwork.” Her obvious enthusiasm for her new role (Brillante-Santos was the former BAIPHIL first vice president) is evident as she shared the rundown of the projects and activities that she and her team have lined up for this year.
BAIPHIL beyond 70
“For this year we have three main objectives. Firstly, we want to further entrench BAIPHIL as the premier training provider of the banking industry. We intend to accomplish this by: enhancing our course offerings, introducing e-Learning as an alternative to our classroom training, embarking on a “Training the Trainers” workshop to expand the resource speaker base for our Corporate Governance Courses, transforming the Treasury Operations Course into a certificate course, and getting accreditation from CHED and PICPA for conversion of BAIPHIL courses to equivalent college or masteral units and CPE credits. Secondly, we will provide the members with an opportunity for a holistic development mainly through the BAIPHIL Market Watch (BMW), our Legal, Regulatory and Tax Updates (LegReg/Tax), monthly general membership meetings (GMMs) and the BAIPHIL Week celebration where we invite guests speakers who will share their expertise in topics ranging from corporate governance, fiscal and regulatory reforms, trade and industry concerns, entrepreneurship, better business presentations, green environment, renewable green energy, media concerns; to CSR activities, the arts and humanities. Lastly, we dream of relocating to a new Training Center venue that will address our need for more classrooms for the simultaneous holding of training, seminars and workshops in a central location. These plans stemmed from and are aimed at furthering the vision, mission, and core values of the Institutes.” she shares.
Harnessing strengths
With so much planned, it is fortunate that Brillante-Santos has a good working partner in Serrano, “Our strength is that we complement each other, I’m more on the concept and ideas, while he’s the implementer- the executor.” Having worked together for five years now at the BAIPHIL board, Brillante-Santos and Serrano have developed a working relationship that works, with proof being the impressive lineup of activities and projects that they were able to come up with the rest of the team. She adds, “We have all the basic ingredients for success – teamwork, passion and preparation. My team is made up of highly intelligent and talented individuals committed to the Institute’s goals. All of this year’s officers have long years of banking experience and are experts in various areas of banking (e.g. accounting, auditing, finance, operations, risk management, compliance, technology, etc.), possess leadership skills, and are practicing varied yet complementary management styles.”
Forging ahead
Out of all their planned projects for this year, one of the highlights is the implementation of the e-Learning training approach, which is aimed at providing a wider reach and an innovative way to deliver the Institute’s training programs. This is also to keep in step with other training institutions that also offer distance learning. Another exciting project that BAIPHIL has in the works is the development of a BAIPHIL book, which will come out in two volumes and will contain the history of BAIPHIL and the history of banks. It’s definitely a tall order but Brillante-Santos, like with all the other projects that they have lined up, is optimistic that they will be able to accomplish this as well.
She adds, “Members should expect another golden year for BAIPHIL as the various committees embark on their respective plans. The BAIPHIL Education & Training Committee (BETI) and the Technology Management Committee (TMC) will roll-out the BAIPHIL e-Learn, which is an alternative to classroom training. Members may soon earn college or masteral units and CPE credits for attending BAIPHIL courses. An interesting lineup of speakers from the public and private sectors will tackle popular and relevant topics for the monthly General Membership Meetings (GMMs). The BAIPHIL Week will be filled with many activities, such as the holding of free seminars and training workshops, exhibits and the book launch on the Institute’s seven decades of existence side by side with the history and evolution of Philippine banks.”
Her term being not a convention year, Brillante-Santos admits that without the extra funds that they usually get from sponsors, they might be up for a bit of a challenge. “Revenues generated from the usual sources (institutional and associate dues) may not be sufficient to finance our high cost but invaluable return, projects that we want to rollout/set out to do this year, such as the e-Learn and the Training Center relocation,” she shares. But like true leader, Brillante-Santos prefers to focus on the positive-her wonderful team and the great potential of their planned projects of helping BAIPHIL forge ahead as it goes beyond the 70-year mark.
