FICOBank's Cream of the Crop

Despite so many challenges in this toughest of times, FICOBank pushed through to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class stability. A key driver to its business success is the overall performance of its branch managers—the frontliners of its banking operations—who have demonstrated expertise, diligence, perseverance and dedication that enabled the Bank to excel in the increasingly competitive financial market.

There is one thing common to every branch manager of FICOBank—results matter. The outstanding performances of the BMs are truly counted as great when they come at crucial times and they swing favorably the winning chances of their respective branches. As an annual corporate tradition, the Bank chose the “cream of the crop” from among the branch managers that succeeded in making it to the very end. This is not meant to devalue the achievements of other branch managers, rather it is simply a way of recognizing and honoring the top performers who carried their forms all the way through the distance, or did their best when it matters the most—at the very end.

BM Zorina “Ponet” S. Aradanas, the undisputed top performing branch manager for nine consecutive years, was again the standout performer of the Bank for business year 2009, as she made the maximum operational impact.

In fact, to fully understand BM Ponet’s impact, one has to look beyond the numbers. By the time the year was about to end, her credibility as the “best of the best” has gone up multifold. From average-to-above-average performances at the first quarter to the third quarter of the year, she eventually achieved a stellar performance at year-end. As always, her annual outputs in several key result areas didn’t fail to impress the evaluators as well as the board and management.

With high passion and drive to succeed, she carries a well-earned reputation of being the “Numero Uno” in terms of operational performance. Her strong leadership and result-oriented culture have influenced her team to stay on top and remain as the best performing branch. In spite of her firm stance to push her staff to perform extraordinarily, she took good care of them, as she treated them well and pampered them with rewards.

With the unbeatable BM Ponet Aradanas at the helm, the position of Roxas Branch in the totem pole of FICOBank has once again proved impregnable to challengers.

Although BM Ma. Pilar “Lalah” C. Atienza has been with the Alicia Branch for half a decade now, as its dedicated and dynamic manager, her depth of skill, strategy and control to steer the branch to perform better never fell short.

BM Lalah has been shoved up and down the ladder of performance, pushed in and out of the elite circle of top performers, and at crucial times ended up as the “second best.” Actually, it is the second time that she achieved such feat. Being a virtuoso performer that blends operational aggressiveness and cautiousness, what she has accomplished was indeed staggering.

She and her team are determined to break their operational outputs and performance rating in 2009—in terms of loan volume, net income, deposit and preferred share generation, and past due reduction, to include compliance with policies—and stand out among the rest in clinching the overall best performance in 2010.

BM Vicente “Vic” Q. Quintos, Jr. has undoubtedly been the breakthrough performer of the year. He and his Malasiqui Branch was a big revelation for 2009. With just over six months in operation since it was inaugurated in June 2009, the branch was able to generate a significant net income. And this is not a mean feat for a newly-opened branch.

With a 21-year experience in banking operation, BM Vic is the person to call for results. Although FICOBank is a new player in the area and it was the first time for almost all of the people in the locality to hear about the Bank, BM Vic and his staff were not discouraged. They didn’t allow themselves to fold their wings and give up. Instead, with a sense of purpose, they took advantage of their respective experiences and competencies, and further capitalized on the distinct character and competitiveness of the Bank to propel the branch team to get things done beyond expectation.

Being a result-oriented manager of the branch and an effective leader of his team, BM Vic deserves to be included in the honor roll of FICOBank’s top achievers.