Ayala Corp. is changing the person holding the purse strings, with BPI Capital Corp. president and managing director Lester Ong set to become the conglomerate’s new treasurer on January 1, 2027.
Ong, 43, will succeed Estelito C. Biacora, who is moving back to the Bank of the Philippine Islands as treasurer and head of its Global Markets Group, subject to the bank’s corporate approvals.
The executive shuffle puts two experienced finance professionals into roles closely tied to the group’s capital and financial-market operations.
Ong currently leads BPI Capital, where he oversees strategy, investment banking, corporate governance and organizational development. He also chairs BPI Securities Corp. and sits on the board of the National Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines.
He has spent more than two decades in the BPI Group, working across investment banking, corporate finance, equity capital markets and deal execution.
In plain English, Ong has spent much of his career helping companies raise money, structure deals and navigate financial markets—experience that could prove useful in managing the finances of one of the country’s biggest conglomerates.
Biacora’s move is something of a homecoming. He will return to BPI to oversee treasury and global markets operations, subject to relevant corporate approvals.
The appointments also create a neat exchange of talent within the Ayala-BPI orbit: a BPI investment banker moves into Ayala’s treasury seat, while Ayala’s treasurer returns to BPI.
For investors, the changes are unlikely to alter Ayala’s broader strategy overnight. But treasury leadership matters, particularly in a business environment shaped by interest rates, capital costs, currency movements and increasingly complex financial markets.
Ong’s appointment therefore signals continuity—with a fresh set of eyes on one of the group’s most important financial functions.
