Hello, welcome to the careers for kids podcast where kids learn careers.
This is Maxwell Valencia.
This is Henry Morrison.
And today we have Lynn Oliva, a senior banker and one of the oldest banks in the Philippines.
Hello Mrs. Oliva, thank you for spending your time to be on careers4kids.
We hope you have a great interview.
Now let's get started.
Tell us what you currently do right now.
Today I am already retired.
I retired in 2011.
But before that, I used to be with the bank, firstly with Citibank, an affiliate of Citibank
called FNCB Finance.
That was way back in 1972.
Then Cititrust, then BPI.
I ended my career at the Bank of the Philippine Islands, the oldest bank in the Philippines.
That seems a really cool career.
I like it.
So do I.
Okay, so tell me more about your career and how did you get to this position in the first
place?
Well, of course, you know, during our time, that was in the 1970s, after college, all
of us graduates were striving to enter the workplace.
And fortunately, I happened to be hired by one of the largest American banks, which is
Citibank.
I think you know Citibank, right?
So I started from the bottom and worked my way up through several mergers also.
So how did I prepare for it?
Well, of course, I tried to do, I did well in school at the time.
You know, there were really not much destruction, so I was really focused just on studying.
And that's it.
And I had my brothers as my role models because they were all economists and bankers as well.
So that's how I ended up being in the bank.
On your economist, I'm more interested about your career.
Like what part of your job do you enjoy the most and dislike the most?
Oh, I actually enjoyed all the aspects of my career because I started in the lowest rank.
I was, you know, what they call a five day collector, meaning to say I used to call people
who were delinquent for five days before it graduated to being more delinquent, you know,
over the 30, 60 days.
I like that because I had very good, you know, very good friends in the same department.
And since we were young, we were just enjoying ourselves.
We would go out.
And then after that, they promoted me to different positions in the bank.
I would say that I went around the different departments in the bank from collections to
credit to money market to investment bank.
And then what did I then finally do?
Quality service quality before I ended up as the chief compliance officer.
CCO of the BPI and its subsidiaries.
It's really amazing.
Like I'm really shocked.
I have a question.
Yes, what's your question?
Was this the dream job you imagined yourself doing when you were a kid?
You know, when I was a kid, I was just like, I just wanted to play, to do, you know, to
go on vacations.
But when I was not really as a kid, but when I graduated, I was I just loved dancing.
I just wanted to be a dancer.
I just want to be a secretary.
I wanted to be a flight attendant.
But unfortunately, my height is short.
I can't be a flight attendant because I can't reach the, you know, the cab, the luggage,
the cabin, the doors of the cabin.
So my mom said, if you're into dancing, because I dance pretty well, I'm graceful, you won't
be able to earn much.
So that got me got me thinking, okay, I'll join the workforce and be in the bank and
that will earn me my salary.
And I did not make a mistake because I moved up the ladder, so to speak.
The corporate ladder.
That is correct.
But who were you made?
I know when you were young, like who inspired you to push forward?
Of course, my father made me my father was a well-known lawyer.
He was a criminal and civil lawyer.
And then, of course, I was the only girl out of a family of six children.
Wow.
Yeah, so I have five.
Wow.
Yes, five brothers and I'm the only girl and all my brothers were also, you know, well
achievers at the time.
So maybe they were my role models at the time.
Yes, because we were very close family.
And I can say that they really were my ideal persons at the time.
They were also at that they also strive to be and they were in the senior position.
In fact, one of my brothers became president of the Philippine Petroleum.
Oh, yes, Tito Oscar, Lolo Oscar.
That's crazy.
And then he became president of Filipinas Shell.
That's crazy.
Yes, and he's also president of the biggest electrical company in the Philippines called
Miralco.
That's interesting.
Yeah, and he's now even at the age of 77, he sits on a lot of boards, PLDT, BPI, PepsiCo.
So they were my role models, I would say.
So I strive to be just like them.
You must do well with your family.
I sometimes sharpen my brother a lot and I know same brand new sisters sometimes.
Yeah, but like I know that like there's a lot of jobs out there.
Yes.
And like that's what this podcast is about, helping the show to kids, like that there's
a bunch of possibilities and a bunch of jobs.
But basically, why did you quit this job?
What made you do this?
Quit my job?
I didn't quit my job.
Why did you?
No, no, no.
Why did you pick this job?
Oh, was it because of that?
Oh, was I picking a job?
It was the bank that hired me, the first.
It was the most practical for me at that time.
Remember, this was 1970s.
At that time, at that time, you know, Henry and Maxwell, it was the banking, the banking
corporate world was the in thing.
Oh, in the 1970s and 80s, I would say that.
Yes.
So now we have a lot more challenges, a lot more, you know, a lot more variety of work.
Yes.
There's so much work like.
So that was it, Henry.
Why I picked a job?
Because it was the in thing at that time.
There's many other things like actors, too.
There wasn't as many actors as there is now.
Yes, exactly.
Well, as I said, I wanted to be a dancer, but there is no money in dancing at that time.
Even like now, you know, when you become part of the Broadway or a ballet.
What was the biggest highlight of your giant, amazing career?
What was what?
The biggest highlight.
Oh, when I became maybe the chief compliance officer, because I was handling not only the
bank proper, but all its subsidiaries.
So a lot of people would ask me for whether we can, you know, do a lot of projects or
do a lot of operations without violating the Philippine laws as far as banking is concerned,
like the Banco Central de Filipinas, which is just like your federal reserve in the U.S.
or the Securities Exchange Commission, which is the same as in the U.S.
So that may that may involve a lot of thinking on my part and thinking of ways, OK, ways
to be able to do the part, the things that the bank would like to do and dealing with
a regulator so that I can let the banks do what they want.
So it dealt with a lot of exchange interactions with the regulators.
And I love that because I love to talk and I love to socialize.
Like me.
Yes, just like Maxwell.
Yes, that's correct.
So what are the biggest challenges that you think can be solved by our generation that
you want to solve for you?
Oh, for me, at this point in time, maybe from my point of view, it is climate change.
You know, climate change has been there, but we did not take it so seriously.
Yes.
During my time, there was not such thing as well, maybe there we were not conscious of
the climate change.
So we were still doing all the forces.
But look at where we are now.
All the happening all over the world.
Your record hit in the United States, Europe, even here in Asia.
There are a lot of fires.
We never had that before.
We need to fix that.
So that's one of the challenges.
So climate change can end the earth.
And if someone wants to follow in your footsteps in your careers as a finance person or a banker,
what would you tell him or her?
Okay.
I would tell him, of course, you study, but not studying is not the end thing.
Okay.
You have to have initiative, resourcefulness.
You have to be street smart.
But sometimes when you are in a organization, I don't know about in the U.S., what they
look for is your resume.
So what do they have in your resume?
How you did in your studies.
Right.
But I would also add, you have to be very resourceful and street smart and, you know,
do the right thing.
You have the will.
You know what is right and what is wrong.
So I think that is what you should do.
Follow your dream.
Dream big and follow your dream.
Yes.
And doing what is right.
And if you cannot know what is right, ask your seniors, ask your parents, ask your teachers
so that they can guide you in the right direction.
Let's say you want to be a basketball player and you are not really practicing basketball
every day.
Exactly.
That's not very good.
That's why you need to take initiative and practice your basketball every day.
Exactly.
I always say and this is true today, practice makes perfect.
Yes.
I get your point.
And I think Henry is a question.
Yes, Henry.
What is your main life advice for kids listening to this podcast?
Okay.
What I would like your generation to follow is be creative, be resourceful, be innovative,
take the initiative.
Okay.
And I think that you are doing this podcast for careers for kids is a very brilliant idea.
And I commend you and I bow to you both for doing this.
Thank you so much.
Yes.
Because if you can inspire your generation or even your peers to do something like this,
wow, it's a start of something beautiful.
And I hope the two of you will continue to think of ways to further your, you know, what
you have in mind.
This is a start and I do love it.
Thank you so much, Mrs. Alira for allowing us to interview you.
I'm sure so many kids will be inspired to take a path of banking and go to finance school
and not just that and many other of your life lessons because of this interview and what
was listening.
Well, everyone, thank you so much for listening to the careers for kids podcast.
Hope you enjoyed that episode and we'll see you in the next episode.
Bye.