Marita Socorro D. Gayares

Senior Vice President
Chief Risk Officer

Profile

Age: 59, Born 1963
Nationality: Filipino

Tenure

Chief Risk Officer since January 2018
Member, Risk Management Committee
Chairperson, Fraud and Irregularities Committee
Co-Chairperson, Data Steering Committee
Deputy Commander, Crisis Resiliency Committee
Vice-Chairperson, non-voting, Sustainability Council
Advisor, Enterprise and BPI IT Steering Committee
Member, non-voting, Finance Committee
Member, Operational Risk Management Committee

Ms. Gayares is the Chief Risk Officer of the BPI Group of Companies and Head of its Risk Management Office since January 2018. She likewise serves as a Director for BPI Europe Plc.’s Board. With career stints in the areas of Corporate Banking, Credit and Transaction Banking, Loans Operations, Project Management, Systems, and Financial Control.

Relevant skills and experience

Ms. Gayares’ extensive and diverse 35-year banking experience has been instrumental in transforming the Bank’s compliance, anti-money laundering, corporate governance, and data privacy frameworks, methods, and processes, and helping the Bank become one of the leading financial institutions in the Philippine banking industry in the areas of governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC). For her remarkable efforts, Ms. Gayares was recognized as Bank Risk Manager of the Year at the 2020 Asia risk Awards by Risk.net .

Outside interests/commitments

She previously served as Director and Treasurer of the Association of Bank Compliance Officers (ABCOMP), and Voting Member of the Bankers Institute of the Philippines, Inc. (BAIPHIL).

She currently serves as Member of the Risk Management Committee of the Bankers’ Association of the Philippines (BAP), and Board of Advisors/Executive Committee Member of the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Council of the Ayala Group of Companies.

Education

Ms. Gayares is a graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics. She completed her Master’s degree in Business Administration (major in Finance and Investments) at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She has successfully completed the Strategic Compliance in the Banking Industry certificate course by the Association of Bank Compliance Officers (ABCOMP) and De La Salle University (DLSU) Manila, as well as completed corporate governance modules facilitated by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD).