Top bancassurance firm BPI AIA today announced the appointment of Karen Custodia as the new Chief Executive Officer of BPI AIA, which took effect on January 9, 2023. At the helm, Custodia takes on the responsibility of overseeing BPI AIA’s growing Partnership Distribution Channel and managing its strategic relationship with BPI while providing leadership to support a wide range of initiatives.
“I am both proud and humbled to take on this new role at BPI AIA as we continue to provide Filipinos with the financial protection they need and encourage them to live longer, healthier, and better lives. We understand our consumers’ changing needs and we will continue to invest in innovations to fulfill our strong commitment to making insurance accessible, affordable, and personalized for every Filipino,” said Karen Custodia, BPI AIA CEO.
Prior to her appointment, she held the role of Head of Partnership Distribution Sales Channels at BPI AIA since 2014. Bringing in more than a decade of rich experience in sales, Custodia has a proven track record of driving impactful change in the company. In her previous role, she led a team of over 1,500 employees from the In-Branch Corporate Sales, Direct Sales, Private Banking, and Telesales teams.
Under her leadership, BPI AIA successfully implemented a new distribution model aligned with BPI’s customer and channel strategy. This feat has strengthened partner engagement and consequently increased the sales force’s productivity.
“Our partnership with BPI has grown stronger every year, we push on every day to protect our customers letting them love the lives they live. We look forward to working alongside them towards our common goal of building a better Philippines, one family, one community at a time,” added Custodia.
Custodia previously led the distribution channels to shift from physical to hybrid interaction at the height of the pandemic. The shift helped curb the pandemic’s impact and achieve faster recovery while staying true to the BPI AIA mission of making insurance easy to get and easy to have for every Filipino.
Custodia replaced Surendra Menon, who served six years as BPI AIA CEO and was recently appointed as Director of Partnership Distribution of AIA Indonesia. Custodia will work closely with and will be directly reporting to Kelvin Ang, Chief Executive Officer of AIA Philippines.
“I am honored to pass on the chief executive role to Karen. Through the course of her career, she has demonstrated her expertise and knowledge, which have been key parts of many of the organization’s innovations and developments. With her spearheading BPI AIA, I am certain that she will drive the company toward new heights of success,” said Surendra Menon, outgoing and former CEO of BPI AIA.
BPI AIA is a joint venture between two icons of the financial industry, AIA Philippines (formerly AIA Philam Life) and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI).