Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is reshuffling its boardroom—and not subtly.
The bank’s board has approved a slate of appointments effective at the close of business on Monday, Jan. 26, subject to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and other regulatory approvals, bringing in heavyweight finance talent while repositioning key expertise for its next growth phase.
At the center is the appointment of Alberto M. de Larrazabal as Independent Director, filling the vacancy created by the move of Director Erika Fille T. Legara to the Advisory Board. De Larrazabal will also assume Legara’s seats across some of RCBC’s most powerful bodies: the Risk Oversight, Audit and Compliance, Corporate Governance and Nominations, and Related Party Transactions committees—effectively placing him at the nerve center of board oversight.
De Larrazabal brings more than two decades of corporate finance, strategy, and operations experience. Until December 2025, he was Senior Managing Director and CFO of Ayala Corporation, while also holding top executive roles across Ayala’s ventures, telecom, and finance arms. He previously held senior finance posts at Globe Telecom, San Miguel Corp., Marsman Drysdale, and JP Morgan in Hong Kong. Currently, he serves as President and CEO of AREIT Inc. and AC Infrastructure Holdings, and chairs Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. In November 2025, he was named CFO of the Year by ING and the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines.
RCBC’s board also appointed Kaoru Furuya as Director, replacing Gayatri P. Bery following the sale of IFC’s RCBC stake to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. Furuya, an SMBC Managing Director and Global Banking Unit executive, will sit on the Risk Oversight Committee and advise the Audit and Compliance Committee. His career spans senior SMBC roles across Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, London, Singapore, and Jakarta.
Meanwhile, Legara transitions from Independent Director to the Advisory Board, a move RCBC says will allow deeper, hands-on engagement as the bank accelerates initiatives in artificial intelligence, data science, and digital transformation.
RCBC isn’t just refreshing names—it’s recalibrating governance for scale, complexity, and tech-driven banking.
