Former RCBC Securities President Jerome Tan Dies in Subic

(Source: http://business.inquirer.net/67563/biz-buzz-shedding-old-skin)


Subic accident

Former RCBC Securities president Jerome Tan passed away last weekend after he drowned in Zambales.

According to word that reached Biz Buzz, Tan and his friend were trying out a new yacht last Saturday in Subic and decided to visit Grande Island, just at the mouth of the bay. They anchored the boat off the island and jumped into the water to swim to the shore but soon found themselves overpowered by the strong undertow that waters off Zambales are known for.

Despite being “very fit” and a “good swimmer”—as attested to by his good friends, who invariably described him as a “nice guy”—Tan was apparently overcome by the current. Only his friend made it to the island, and the banker was later found with a very weak pulse. Tan expired soon after.

Tan resigned from the brokerage firm about two months ago amid troubles concerning the supposedly rogue trades executed by the firm’s rainmaker (who has since made herself scarce). According to his friends, Tan was advised early this year by a geomancer to “stay away from salt water.”—Daxim L. Lucas

RCBC Trader Mary Grace MG Valbuena permanently barred by PSE

(It looks like forces are really ganging up on MG Valbuena.  Prior to the PSE barring her from trading, talk was rife that one of her higher ups at RCBC had made her a fall-girl for a fiasco, after he was cut out from the revenue stream she was generating.)

(Source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/253242/economy/companies/pse-bans-rcbc-securities-trader-on-p126-m-scam )

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Thursday said it barred from its premises a trader employed by RCBC Securities Inc. for supposedly scamming the brokerage's clients.

Mary Grace Valbuena, a registered trader for RCBC Securities until last December, “was permanently barred by the PSE from entering its facilities and systems due to willfully causing the unauthorized use or disposition of funds or securities entrusted to her by clients of RSI,” the bourse said in a statement.

The PSE fined RCBC Securities—as Valbuena’s employer—with P5 million on the following violations:

Failure to supervise its Registered Salesperson Mary Grace Valbuena and to implement effective internal control procedures to prevent the unauthorized use and disposition of funds and securities entrusted by clients to RCBC Securities 

Failure to apply the Suitability Rule in relation to SRC Rule 30.2-3(E) on Discretionary Accounts being handled by Ms. Valbuena 

Failure to implement SRC Rule 34.1-2 on Segregation of Functions (Chinese Wall) which allowed Ms. Valbuena to gain access to documents which were found to be manipulated and reproduced by her to defraud clients of RCBC Securities and 

Failure to ensure Ms. Valbuena's compliance with Article IV of the Amended MRD Rules or the Code of Conduct and Professional Ethics for Traders and Salesmen.

The company settled the penalty on March 21, according to the PSE.

PSE also obliged the securities company to provide an additional paid-up capital to cover the payment claims by its affected clients. The total claims amounted to P126 million, but the company put up an additional capital totaling P300 million.

The PSE also recommended that the Securities and Exchange Commission suspend the trading license of Rhodora Alberto, another employee of RCBC Securities for allegedly failing to supervise Valbuena.

"This is a clear demonstration of the PSE's role in enforcing good corporate governance. We would like to assure the public that the PSE will not tolerate such activities by erring personnel of trading participants," PSE president and CEO Hans B. Sicat said in the same statement.

Bonfire at RCBC Securities: Shenanigans going all the way to the top?

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite columns in the Philippine Daily Inquirer came out with this juicy morsel:

Blacklisted Lady
A female sales agent of RCBC Securities—said to have been a rainmaker of this brokerage house for about a decade—is now facing criminal charges for questionable transactions with her own personal clients.  

Based on a regulatory filing, RCBC Securities has also asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to blacklist the agent, Mary Grace “MG” Villafria Valbuena, on the back of “strong documentary evidence” culled by the brokerage. 

MG—sued by her employer for “falsification” of commercial documents—was allegedly able to divert investments made by high networth clients to another account. In some cases, she even issued fraudulent receipts to unsuspecting investors. 

An official estimate of the damage was only about P80 million, although the Ayala trading floor is abuzz with talks that the amount was much higher. 

However, what appears to be an open and shut case of corruption in the corporate world is actually just the veneer.  The story actually continues and outlines possible directions point all the way to the top:

Rogue trader with management’s blessings?  

The supposed rogue trader who was accused by RCBC Securities of running off with a huge sum of clients’ money seems to be ready to turn the tables on her accuser. 

According to our source, the brokerage firm’s former “rainmaker”—Mary Grace Valbuena—is all set to spill the beans on her former superiors, including what her camp claims was the sanctioned use of a scheme where all clients’ stock transactions were coursed through a single trading account that was managed solely at her discretion. 

Our source added that the operation was running for several years already and was supposedly approved and encouraged by Valbuena’s superiors since the arrangement was “mutually beneficial.”

“Her activities as a stockbroker practically paid for all the salaries of the brokerage firm’s employees,” the source said, who added that Valbuena was ready to come out with documentary evidence to prove her claims. “It goes all the way to the top.” 
So will the issue be settled quietly or will we see more skeletons coming out of the brokerage firm’s closet? Abangan.