Banking luminary Xavier P. Loinaz – a pillar of risk management, innovation and credit discipline at Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) – died on Oct. 4, about a week short of his 82nd birthday.
A BPI community post said on Sunday they were deeply mourning the passing of Loinaz, also known as ‘XP’ at BPI, where he had served as CEO for 22 years and board member for another 16 years.
‘XP was a captain of industry who steered BPI through local political turmoil and global crises. His 22-year presidency set benchmarks in responsible and innovative banking, and led the technology and operational transformation of the Philippine banking industry,’ the community said.
‘To us at BPI, Xavier Loinaz was not only a visionary leader but also a mentor and an inspiration. He taught us discipline, integrity, and the importance of serving with purpose. The innovations he introduced, and the people he guided, continue to carry his legacy forward,’ BPI president Jose Teodoro Limcaoco said.
‘We will always be grateful for his steady hand and his belief in the Filipino spirit. He leaves behind an institution made stronger by his leadership-and a family of bankers who will forever remember him with respect and gratitude,’ added Limcaoco.
Loinaz was BPI president from 1982 to 2004, helping the bank navigate episodes of political turbulence and economic crises, including two people power revolutions, coup d’ etat attempts, the debt crisis and the Asian financial crisis.
Banking MandAs
At the helm of BPI, Loinaz took the big steps and embarked on a number of mergers and acquisitions (MandAs) to take BPI to a certain scale and size. Four significant MandA deals were done during his term: Family Bank in 1985, CityTrust Banking Corp. in 1995, Far East Bank and Trust Company in 2000 and DBS Philippines in 2002.
The purchase of Family Bank from the Gotianun family in 1985, even at a time of growing political unrest, allowed BPI to enter the higher-margin consumer banking space. This became BPI Family Bank, which was eventually integrated into the parent bank.
Beyond his term as BPI president, Loinaz had continued to serve on the board of Southeast Asia’s oldest bank until 2020, when he resigned for health reasons. He previously survived a bout with pancreatic cancer, industry sources said.
uring legacy
‘His legacy endures through the leaders he nurtured with intellectual rigor, responsibility and discipline, and in his pioneering spirit that lives on in BPI,’ the community said.
When Loinaz retired as board member of BPI in 2020, Ayala Corp. chair Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala credited him for cultivating BPI’s strong credit culture, building its reputation as a ‘safe haven’ in times of crisis and for growing the bank to be one of the country’s largest.
Under his leadership, BPI introduced to the Philippines automated teller machines (ATMs) as well as the concept of bancassurance.
Including his board directorship at Globe Telecom and Ayala Corp., Loinaz served the Ayala group for four decades.
‘Exceptional’
Loinaz’s successor, Aurelio Montinola III, said in 2012 when he accepted the prestigious MAP Management Man of the Year award: ‘At BPI, I had the good fortune of working with Vic Pacis in corporate banking, and then with Xavier Loinaz everywhere else. All were demanding, never satisfied, and uncompromising; therefore, I learned the hard way how to get things done in an exceptional manner.’