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Metrobank
Foundation Chairman
Dr. George S. K. Ty Speech
(Management Association of the
Philippines, Man of the Year)
February 19, 2007
 Thank you for this great honor. I
am humbled by the generosity of the
most prestigious management
organization in the Philippines.
I would also like to congratulate my
fellow awardee Jaime Augusto Zobel.
To be recognized by people we
respect and admire is like seeing
ourselves bigger and better through
the eyes of others. I feel I am
not that great but it is nice for
good people like yourselves to think
of me that way.
Management is a practical discipline
measured by financial returns and
competitive position. But it
is easy to forget that success in
business ultimately comes from a
commitment to personal values.
When you look at Metrobank today,
the tendency is to focus on its
results, its size and its position.
It is easy to overlook the
elements that shaped its character.
As someone who founded, nurtured and
grew the business, I would like to
share with you some experiences that
I believe have been important to
Metrobank’s success.
Starting
The Business
When I was 19 years old my father
asked me to set up a flour mill.
And over the next three years, I
started the mill and worked my way
up, learning about running a
business along the way. I became
the general manager of wellington
flour mills after a while, watching
over equipment and raw materials
worth 6 million dollars, a lot of
money at the time. As the company
grew, we needed cash to expand and
we had to borrow money. This was
the first time I realized the
importance of a bank. Helping
businesses to grow seemed like a
good way to make a living. I
resolved to get into the banking
industry /and I have been in that
business ever since.
it was not easy. In fact, it was
very hard. I can still remember
being a 25-year old man, with no
banking experience and very little
English, waiting endlessly in the
Central Bank offices to follow up
our banking license. After over
three years of trying, the CB
finally relented and in 1962, Metrobank
opened its doors as a small bank in
Binondo.
In the business of banking, making
money is not the only goal; it is
even more important to earn the
trust of clients and to help them
succeed, whether in their
investments or their businesses.
Banking is not merely the business
of money; it is the business of
trust. A proper banker may love
the business but he can never
forget that he also protects the
interests of his clients and serves
his community.
Even today, I wake up everyday aware
that not only am i responsible for
the thousands of my employees and
their families, but also for the
hundreds/ of thousands of clients of
the Metrobank group and the
confidence of millions of the
banking public. Such a
responsibility cannot be borne
lightly.
Growing The Business
I have devoted my entire career to
making Metrobank worthy of such a
responsibility. Every workday for
more than forty years now, I start
work at eight in the morning. Some
days I feel lazy or sick, but I go
to work because I have to set an
example. It’s impossible to ask
people to do something if you are
not willing to do it yourself.
There are times when I would prefer
to spend time with my family, but I
spend that time at work instead
because I know that my family’s well
being also depends on my work.
These days, it is convenient to
ignore a simple truth, that the
surest way to succeed is simply to
work harder and try harder. People
often look for that one lucky break
that right opportunity that they
think will magically guarantee
success. They would be better served
by simply working harder, day in and
day out, month by month, year by
year. I started doing this over 40
years ago and I continue to do this
today. At Metrobank, achievements
are not made by grand decisions
overnight but by doing hundreds of
important little tasks during the
day. This commitment to hard work
and perseverance is the true secret
of our success.
Today, Metrobank is beyond any one
man. Among the most important
lessons i learned over the decades
is knowing how to choose good
people and putting them into
situations where they can succeed.
I am particularly proud of having
fine people like Placido Mapa, Jr.,
James Go and Tony Abacan among our
senior executives who reflect the
values we hold dear. I also take
great pride in many other excellent
executives who first emerged at
Metrobank and moved on to positions
of leadership in other banks and in
government. We regard former
Metrobankers who go on to greater
success as the world’s gain/ rather
than our loss.
The personal cost of building a
business is not cheap. Hardship and
sacrifice are the companions of
achievement and success. I may
have missed out on many of my
family’s special moments. And I
may have been considered harsh and
over-demanding by many people
whose opinions I value and respect.
But I willingly bore these costs
because I know, and I wanted others
around me to learn, that hard work
and sacrifice are necessary for
anything worth having. Easy success
can just as easily be gone.
I am also pleased that my children
have paid their dues and earned
their right to become part of the
business. In the same way that my
father raised me, my
philosophy has been to give my
children their education and
opportunities but ultimately to
have them work for their own future.
A rich man’s children can easily
amount to nothing. I have
provided my children enough –
actually, more than enough -- for
them to be comfortable. If they want
more, and I would hope they do,
they will have to get it from their
own hard work.
Looking Beyond
At some point, having worked so
hard and sacrificed so much, we may
find ourselves asking how to put
more meaning into our achievements?
When that question came to mind/
many years ago, the answer to me
was very simple: it was to give
back and share the fruits of my
success with the society that made
my success possible in the first
place.
From this thinking came the
Metrobank Foundation, an institution
which started with fifty (50)
million U.S. dollar donation when
the exchange rate was 26 to 1.
This represents my concern for the
community and the Filipino people.
The foundation’s works are a
reflection of my gratitude to this
country, an expression of
appreciation and thanks for all the
opportunities opened to me by the
Filipino people. The charities and
public services are also a reminder
that our hard work, thriftiness
and discipline is not only for the
sake of profits but also to share
with others and the whole community.
Every time I travel, I am reminded
about how fortunate I am/ to have
started out in the Philippines,
whose society and people took me
in, made my business possible and
enabled it to succeed. I consider
the Philippines to be the best
country for someone like me and for
a business like Metrobank, and I am
privileged to give back the
blessings this country has showered
on me.
We can certainly try to do a lot
more to make the philippines a
better place for everyone else.
Throughout my career,
starting out as a would-be banker to
growing the business to where it is
today, I have been fortunate to
have people who have been constant
sources of strength. First, I wish
to thank my family for their
steadfast understanding and support
these many years. Second, I wish
to thank my partners and colleagues
in the Metrobank group for their
loyalty and excellence on behalf of
our common enterprise. And finally,
I would like to thank the Filipino
people for taking me in and giving
me a chance to succeed.
In retrospect, this has been my
simple guide: I had to learn
self-discipline so I could have a
successful business. Through this
business, I could then take care of
my family and employees.
And finally, the fruits of this
successful business could then be
shared with the rest of the
community. I hope my story can be
the story of every businessman in
this country. Opportunities for
success and for making social
contributions still abound. If
this management award can help make
my example accessible to others,
then perhaps the human lessons of
Metrobank may become an asset even
more valuable than its business.
Thank you once again for this
singular honor.
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