Who do you know ever wanted to become a banker, unless as a kid, was probably some kind of math genius or financial wiz in school? Without meaning to insult bankers in general, many of whom I’ve had the pleasure of calling as friends, but when you’re little, bankers usually come off as stiff suits, if you know what I mean. Most kids I knew wanted to be a doctor, an astronomer, a superstar rock musician, etc.

Then I met J. Antonio S. Itchon, president of Citibank Savings Inc., who tells me he knew he’d always become a banker. Itchon, nicknamed Tonet by family and friends, is a proud product of the Christian Brothers’ education starting from the elementary level.

Asked to further explain, he says in jest, “In every grade-school and high-school class, I was the class treasurer. Ako ’yung-taga shakedown sa mga classmates, ‘Oy! Ang kontribusyon mo!’”

All the people at our lunch table laugh hysterically at this quip. “In La Salle, hyperactive ang student activities, especially in high school in La Salle Greenhils. It costs money to hold these activities.  But we used to win money for our class through the newspaper drives, yearbook solicitation [of ads], songfests, etc. Our class even funded our own [graduation] ball in a hotel! Our parents never paid for anything. I was in charge of collections.”

Tonet also disabuses me of the idea that most bankers are math geniuses, which is why I never pictured myself in a bank, the subject being my waterloo. “No, no, no. Bankers are not necessarily math geniuses! Sorry to debunk the myth. Kaya lahat ng bangko maraming calculators, ’di  ba? ’Di ba kung math geniuses hindi cluttered ang mesa. Kahit sinong bangkero, me extra large calculator,” he jokes.

His father, Domingo, used to be in the finance group of the Elizalde Group of Companies—therein lies the possible connection to Tonet’s “treasured” beginnings—and sports aficionados will probably remember his father as having been president of the Philippine Basketball Association. Tonet’s mother, the former Amorita Saldaña, was a homemaker “who always had some business going on the side. I was the last son she had spoken to become a doctor because she was in the UP School of Medicine when the dean discovered she was a working student. During that time, the policy was you couldn’t be enrolled in Medicine if you weren’t a full-time student. But she had no choice, she was a working student.”

Growing up in the Itchon household, the fourth of six siblings, and the youngest of three sons, Tonet says he was always known as the one who got away with almost everything. “ Our mother was an extremely loving woman and a ferocious disciplinarian as a result of having led a very tough life starting from her adolescent years as a working student through surviving a war.  My siblings claim that somehow, I had the knack of finding our mother’s soft spot which allowed me to get away easily.  I don’t know if I would be called a ‘Mama’s Boy,’ but I don’t mind given the benefits I enjoyed.”

Despite being the “Mama’s Boy,” Tonet, like his siblings, also had assigned chores in the household, having been brought up without any maids or drivers.

He says this helped them develop certain skills like teamwork, and the art of negotiations, as well as independence—skills that would later help them in their respective careers and family life. “We learned how to cook and do the laundry—both of which became invaluable skills when I lived abroad. Typical chores like washing dishes, sweeping and mopping floors and taking out the garbage managed to develop our respect for and appreciation of honest hard work. The discipline and perseverance in getting through the daily chores also helped develop a stronger sense of humility, temperance and fortitude. And because our mother was very effective in doing quality assurance on our household chores, we learned that there was no shortcut to doing a good job.”

After graduating with an AB Economics degree from De La Salle University (DLSU) in 1981, he worked for a local bank’s leasing firm briefly, before heading off to Cornell University in New York for his Master’s degree in Business Administration under the institution’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. After completing his MBA, he again worked for a bank, that time as credit officer of the formidable Bank of America NT & SA in California, where he said he lived a relatively good life with his wife, the former Susan Laurente, also an Eco graduate from DLSU.

But in 1986, the Edsa Revolution happened, and watching the events unfold on TV while living far away in California awakened in Tonet a desire to come home right away and help in nation-building. “Of course I had always planned to come home after studying in the US and working, but the desire to come home took a more urgent tone after seeing the changes that happened after the Edsa Revolution,” he says.

He came home with his wife, who was then seven months pregnant with their firstborn Maria Christina, now 25, and joined Citibank “because of what it could contribute to the country and the economy, in terms of infrastructure-building, and contributing to the growth of the market.”

Tonet started his career as management associate, basically a trainee position that exposed him to the various operations of the bank. He quickly moved up the ranks and has since held various executive positions, from assistant vice president and sales officer of Citi Philippines’ Global Transactions Services (GTS) group, vice president and head of Citi’s Cebu branch, vice president and senior relationship manager of the National Corporate Group (NCG), to vice president and head of the NCG.

Prior to his appointment as president of Citibank Savings in September 2010, Tonet was country manager of the GTS Group, the leading provider of cash management, trade and securities, and funds services in the country. So he brings to his post over 20 years of extensive commercial and investment banking experience in the Philippines and in the US.

“I joined Citi after the Edsa Revolution because I wanted to contribute and make a difference. I also wanted to learn and be challenged. And I said, while those objectives are being met, I will stay in Citi. I thought it wouldn’t last long and once those objectives are no longer being met, I will have to move on and find it somewhere else.” He explains that he has stayed in Citi for this long, “because up to today, those are still the primary drivers of why I get up for work—learning something new and making a difference.”

As president of Citibank Savings, a relatively new player in the country’s thrift and savings bank sector, Tonet oversees the operations of the bank’s 36 branches all over the country. The bank boasts of the fastest turnaround time in personal loan approvals and unsecured loan releases—currently at two hours—and the lowest default rate in the unsecured personal loan market.

“The typical turnaround time [for unsecured personal loans] in the industry was about two weeks to a month. So we first shortened our loan approval time to two hours [in 2010], and we got good response; in fact we quickly became the market leader for unsecured loans. Coming into 2011, we knew we had to further reinvent ourselves. So we said, instead of guaranteeing a turnaround time for approvals, this is subject to the borrower submitting complete documents, of course, we improved it further, by saying you can have your cash, the actual loan proceeds, in two hours,” he stressed.

He explains that Citibank Savings has focused on the personal unsecured loan market because it has been underserved. “We thought it was an important initiative [to shorten the approval and release process] because people would typically have a need to borrow on an unsecured basis for a very specific purpose. It’s urgent, and opportunistic, and or quite critical compared to buying a house, buying your next car, which is quite intentional in purpose.”

The innovations in the personal loan approval time managed to push the bank’s unsecured loan growth volume by 20 percent to 24 percent in 2010, much higher than the industry growth of 10 percent to 12 percent.

Tonet adds: “The Citi Personal Loan is designed to meet whatever financial need our clients’ may have—not necessarily for emergencies.  We found that many use it to enrich their lives, by traveling with their friends and family, or fixing up their homes, even expanding their small businesses.”

About 85 percent of Citi’s personal loan borrowers are between 30 and 60 years old, earning a net monthly income from P50,000 to P100,000. As of May 2011, the bank’s average loan size is P160,000, even as borrowers are evenly split between men and women.

Prospective borrowers of Citi Personal Loan must be 21 to 65 years old, with an active credit card and a minimum annual income of P250,000.  They can get their loan in as fast as 2 hours, without any collateral, guarantor or comaker required, as long as they submit their complete application in select Citibank Savings branches. (Only 22 of the 36 branches currently process the Citi Personal Loan.)

Clients can borrow anywhere from P25,000 to P2 million, which they can pay in convenient and affordable payment terms of between 12 and 48 months.  Borrowers can enjoy as low as 1.26 percent monthly add-on rate on a 24-month loan tenor, equivalent to 26.9 percent effective interest rate, which is much lower than the 3.5-percent rate charged by credit cards.

Under its current promo, new clients who apply for a Citi Personal Loan via Citibank Online (www.citibank.com.ph) until June 30, 2011, can qualify and get a free trip to Boracay if they availed of a loan based on the required minimum loan amount by the promo.

Asked how it was possible to assess a borrower and release his loan in just two hours without sacrificing the quality of the bank’s borrowers, Tonet admits that this “requires a lot of infrastructure and knowledge, hindi  basta-basta titignan naming ’yung papel. But this goes back to our many years of experience in lending. We’ve been in the business of unsecured lending for the longest time, and we’re the global leader in credit cards, which is a big component of unsecured lending.”

But he stresses that the mere fact that the typical borrower is employed and has a steady source of income, reduces the risk of lending to him. “If he has a business on the side to augment his income, typically the loan is used to expand the business, not to get into something new. So you look at uses of the loans, they’re all for the right uses, but typically they have to have steady employment income that will be the source of the repayment.”

Tonet says Citibank Savings’ loan officers also talk to the loan-applicant thoroughly, guiding him on how much he actually needs for his purpose or what tenor to adopt. For instance, if the client wants to borrow a personal loan to pay for his child’s tuition, the loan officer will encourage him to shorten his repayment period to 12 months, instead of say, 24 months, because the loan officer knows the client will probably borrow again in the following year for exactly the same purpose. “Sometimes with the urgency [of availing the loan], the borrower loses sight of the long term. So that’s where we come in to guide them, and they usually appreciate that input.”

The bank officer also regularly reminds their borrowers to make sure their checking accounts are funded before their postdated checks (PDCs) fall due. The PDCs are usually paid in advance to the bank for the duration of the personal loan. “Because of those practices where we ensure the tenor, the loan amount, and its use is appropriate, and we do remind our customers on repayment, the combination of these two gives us the lowest default rates in the industry,” says Tonet. He adds that the bank has a number of “repeat customers” who re-avail of personal loans.

When not growing his bank’s loan business, Tonet spends most of his time with his wife and kids—aside from Chris, Rafael Jose, 22; Miguel Javier, 19; Gabriel Joaquin, 16; Maria Ysabel, 6.

He goes out on dates with his wife, watches a movie or goes on a road trip with the entire family, and loves watching his sons show off their prowess at football, longboarding and surfing. He also drives around on a restored 21-year-old Brilliant Red BMW 325i Touring dubbed Abby (or “Lola” if you ask Tonet’s older kids) by his six-year-old Ysa, and has pursued photography as a hobby.

Asked if he and Susan have adopted the same parenting skills and measures as their respective parents, Tonet says: “My parents worked extra hard to ensure that their children received a good education, loved God and formed strong values and virtues, including honestly and integrity, humility, temperance, patience, hardwork and fortitude, and charity.  They were especially helpful to those in need and they made sure that we developed the same sense of charity among us siblings, and those around us.

“Susan and I are raising our children to become adults with these very same values, but while my mother took the primary parenting role when I was growing up, we like to believe that Susan and I are jointly as engaged in parenting our kids and we do not delegate the responsibility of forming the character and values of our children.”