Amazons on Boards

Nina D Aguas: Charting the Course for Women in Banking

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The difficult situations that the women in Philippine are faced with in pursuing their careers especially in the corporate and business sector is still evident.  Following the recorded percentage of female business leaders in top organizations and other companies in the country, when compared to that of the male counterparts, the amount has been considered as too poor.

The news headlines still read titles such as; “Filipino women remain inadequately represented in key leadership positions both in government and in different industries”, a study by Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) found that Gender inequality still prevails in the Philippine government and the business sector with a few women holding top positions where key policies are usually decided.

However, in the midst of all these confirmed reports on the status quo of Filipino women in business, there are a number of women who are successfully thriving in the country’s business scene than their male counterparts.

Women like Nina D Aguas, a Filipino woman of substance who has so much to offer in the corporate sector.

Nina Aguas is the current Chairman of Insular Life Assurance Co Ltd, and she controls a huge portfolio in business leadership.

When accolades are being given out for exceptional achievements, Nina should be considered as a top figure who deserves an accolade for her great impact in the business sector of Philippine.

Prior to the time when she started pursuing her career, she always had faith in herself, refusing to settle for anything less. She believed that she deserved to be in a better place when the time comes for her to pursue a career and since she launched out to start the race, a lot of achievements have been accredited to her efforts.

Thriving and excelling in business became the order of happenings as soon as Nina stepped into the scene of senior business leaders, and she is yet to alter a strong track record of an excellent career across retail and private banking spanning over 30 years. 

In terms of Management, this Amazon has been able to successfully manage businesses and operations for multinational companies in Philippine and other parts of the world across developed and emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific and the US.

Nina began her career working with SGV & Co limited Philippine as a Certified Public Accountant. However, after a few years with the firm, she followed her interest in the banking sector and shifted her career base to the banking industry.

As a dedicated and hardworking woman, she delivered maximally on every platform she was given to excel and led a diverse group of people.

Now, beyond sitting at the position of top personnel at Insular Life Assurance, she holds a lifetime achievement in business impact, following her track record in building new businesses as well as defending and growing large existing businesses in highly-competitive and challenging environments, and through difficult economic cycles ranging from the Asian crisis to the recent global financial crisis.

In 2015, Nina was welcomed into the Board of Trustees of the Insular Life Assurance Co., Ltd. Before joining the Insular Life Assurance Company, she also worked with other top institutions served at different top levels which include serving as

 President & Chief Executive Officer of the Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCOM), from August 2012 to March 2015, where she also sat as a Member of the Board of Directors.

While working at the bank, she was responsible for defining the Bank’s vision and strategy, as well as securing resources and building capabilities to ensure the successful implementation of such.

She worked with the Private Banking, Asia-Pacific, ANZ Group as Managing Director from 2009 to 2012, with geographic responsibility for North & North-East Asia (Hong Kong, Taiwan, China) and South & South East Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand).

She also spent over 25-years working at key management positions in Citigroup such as: being the Managing Director and Head of Corporate Center Compliance, New York; Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Philippines; Regional Head, Audit and Risk, Asia-Pacific; and Regional Head, Quality, and Re-engineering, Asia-Pacific.

Nina has also held other professional roles across risk management, credit and audit: Senior Advisor for Quattro Risk Management, a BPO serving global FIs; Board Member of the Market Integrity Board of the Philippine Stock Exchange; and Regional credit officer of Bank of Nova Scotia, Asia-Pacific.

All over the world, it has been agreed that carving a niche and sticking to it is one way to achieving success in life. For Nina, she has chosen the career of a Certified Public Accountant and she is relentless in its pursuit.

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