Karl Kendrick T. Chua

Filipino, 45, was elected as director of BPI in April 2023. He is a member of the Bank’s Retirement/Pension Committee. Mr. Chua also serves as a board director of BPI Direct BanKo, Inc., A Savings Bank.

Mr. Chua is currently the Managing Director for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Ayala Corporation. He is also a Director of AC Ventures and an Independent Director of D&L Industries, Inc, and Golden ABC, Inc. Mr. Chua also serves as a Board Adviser in LH Paragon, Inc.

Mr. Chua is a former Secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority and Undersecretary for Strategy, Economics, and Results at the Department of Finance. He has extensive experience in the areas of economic and fiscal policy, statistical development, national identification, labor and social protection policy, poverty analysis, and digital transformation, among others.

He is currently an adviser for the World Bank’s World Development Report and a member of the Selection Committee of the Asian Development Bank and International Economic Association Innovative Policy Research Award.

Mr. Chua was a senior official in the Government of the Philippines for six years. As Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning and Chief Economist of the country, he provided strategic leadership on economic policy during the Covid-19 pandemic and the further liberalization of key sectors of the economy. He also oversaw the implementation of the national ID program.

As Undersecretary in the Department of Finance, he led the technical team in the passage of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program and the Rice Tariffication Law. Prior to joining the government, he was with the World Bank for 12 years and was the senior economist for the Philippines.

Mr. Chua graduated from the Ateneo De Manila University in 2000 with a degree in B.S. Management Engineering. He earned his M.A. Economics (2003) and Ph.D Economics (2011) from the University of the Philippines, and recently studied data science at the Asian Institute of Management. In 2018, he was awarded as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM) for economic development.