Heads of Control, Risk Management and Compliance

Rosemarie B. Cruz

Senior Vice President & Chief Audit Executive

Filipino, 58 years old, Ms. Cruz is the Chief Audit Executive of BPI since January 2012 and leads the Bank’s Internal Audit Division. She also serves as the Chief Audit Executive for BPI subsidiaries including BPI Family Savings Bank, BPI Capital Corporation, BPI Securities Corporation, BPI Century Tokyo Lease and Finance, BPI Century Rental Corp, BPI Direct BanKo, BPI Asset Management and Trust Corporation, BPI Investment Management Inc., BPI International Finance Ltd., BPI MS Insurance and BPI Ayala Plans. As such, she oversees the audit of the different units, systems and processes of BPI and these subsidiaries and provides assessment on the adequacy and effectiveness of their internal control systems, risk management and governance processes. She supports the Audit Committee in the discharge of its oversight function and also works closely with the Chief Risk Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, external auditor and other assurance units for a comprehensive review of risks and compliance systems in the Bank. She also sits as non-voting member in the board level Related Party Transaction Committee and the management level Fraud and Irregularities Committee. Ms. Cruz joined BPI in 2000, when the Bank acquired Far East Bank and Trust Company, where she was previously in charge of the audit of the retail banking, lending operations and other backroom support operations. She also headed the special examination unit in charge of investigation of fraud and irregularities. Ms. Cruz is a Certified Public Accountant and obtained her BSBA Accounting degree from Philippine School of Business Administration. She completed her Advanced Bank Management program at Asian Institute of Management in 1996. Ms. Cruz currently also serves as a member of the Audit Committee of Ayala Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

Marita Socorro D. Gayares

Senior Vice President & Chief Risk Officer

Filipino, 59 years old, Ms. Gayares is the Chief Risk Officer of the BPI Group of Companies and Head of its Risk Management Office since January 2018. As Chief Risk Officer, she is primarily responsible for the overall management of the BPI Group’s enterprise risks – ensuring that all relevant financial and non-financial risks are appropriately identified, measured, controlled, and monitored within the Bank’s approved risk appetite and commensurate to returns on capital. She provides executive and strategic risk support to the Bank’s Board of Directors, through the Risk Management Committee (RMC), in fulfilling its risk management function and ensuring that the Bank has an established, sound, and robust enterprise risk management (ERM) framework. She works closely with the Chief Audit Executive and Chief Compliance Officer for effective risk management governance, compliance, and control processes across the Bank. She serves as member of the Bank’s Fraud and Irregularities Committee (Chairperson), Data Steering Committee (co-Chairperson), Crisis Resiliency Committee (Deputy Commander), Sustainability Council (Vice-Chairperson, non-voting), Enterprise and Information Technology Steering Committee (advisory capacity), Management Committee, Finance Committee (non-voting member), and Operational Risk Management Committee. 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, and having previously served as the Bank’s Chief Compliance Officer, 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). Her efforts in the field of risk management did not go unnoticed as she recognized as the Bank Risk Manager of the Year in the 2020 Asia Risk Awards by Risk.net.

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). She has previously served as Director and Treasurer of the 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.

Noravir A. Gealogo

Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer

​​​​​​​Filipino, 57 years old, Atty. Gealogo is the Chief Compliance Officer of BPI and Head of the Bank’s Compliance Division which oversees the implementation of the Bank’s enterprise-wide compliance programs and is composed of the following departments: Regulatory Compliance, AML Compliance, AML Systems and Special Projects, FATCA Compliance, Corporate Governance, Data Privacy Office, and Compliance Analytics. The Compliance Division is also empowered by 22 Group Compliance Officers (GCOs), who are embedded in operational units throughout the Bank. Having been with Far East Bank and Trust Company (FEBTC) since 1991, which then merged with BPI in 2000, she has 30 years of banking experience. Previously a legal officer of FEBTC, the Head of the Legal Advisory Department of BPI and Legal Officer and Head of Compliance of BPI Capital Corporation, she has extensive business, legal and/ or compliance exposure in the areas of corporate and retail banking, corporate finance, project finance, securities distribution, mergers and acquisition, correspondent banking, remittance and trade finance. She is currently a non-voting member of BPI’s board-level Related Party Transaction Committee and chairs the management level Money Service Business (MSB) Governance Committee and (MLEC) Money Laundering Evaluation Committee. Atty. Gealogo obtained her Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1988 and AB History from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1984. She completed the Development Lawyers Course at the International Development Law Institute in Rome, Italy in 1994 and the Certificate Course in Strategic Compliance for the Banking Industry at the Center for Professional Development in Business of the De La Salle University in 2017. She has regularly undergone corporate governance courses and training provided by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), Bankers Institute of the Philippines (BAIPHIL), and Good Governance Advocates and Practitioners of the Philippines (GGAPP). She is currently also the Treasurer and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Bank Compliance Officers of the Philippines (ABCOMP).