Citibank scandal: Did Francis Bryan Ang steal the money or not?

Last week, Citibank Philippines reported that one of its private banking officers have gone missing and allegedly carted with him hundreds of millions of pesos worth of depositors’ money.

Francis Bryan Ang, an Assistant Vice President (AVP) of Citibank Binondo’s Citigold Wealth Management Group, is said to have stolen at least P100 million of his clients’ money. Another news report place the total amount allegedly stolen between P600 million and P1 billion.

Who is Francis Bryan Ang?

Francis Ang, 36 years old, is the eldest son of Manila councilor Bernie Ang. Francis graduated high school in 1992 from Xavier School, a premier school for Filipino-Chinese boys, in Greenhills, San Juan.

He went to UP Diliman in college and finished the degree BS Economics. He worked as a staff of former Manila Vice-Mayor Danny Lacuna and also in the private sector (in the Treasury Department of iBank, which was acquired by UnionBank).

In Citibank, his last position was Assistant Vice President for the Citigold Wealth Management unit, the high networth management group for clients with at least $100,000 account with Citibank.

How was the money allegedly stolen?

An affidavit from a Citibank’s lawyer showed that Ang forged some of his clients’ signatures in order to withdraw the money. He also is said to have changed the addresses on the bank’s system so that clients won’t receive bank statements and won’t know about the transfer of funds.

Ang also allegedly duped clients into opening time deposit accounts which turned out to be fictitious. As a private banking officer, his role is to deal directly with clients and offer them options on where to place their money. Apparently, some clients were lured by Ang to invest in high-yield time deposits. As in the case of several Legacy rural banks, it turned out that the  time deposit certificates supposedly issued by Ang were fake.

Until today, no Citibank client has come forward to complain in public. This may be expected since these clients are high-networth individuals who wouldn’t want to be in the limelight.

What’s the defense of Francis Ang?

An interesting twist to the story, meanwhile, is the claim of this Citibank AVP’s father that his son is merely being framed up.

The father, Manila councilor Bernie Ang, said that his son made known to his superiors his disappointment over some alleged bank “anomalies” and threatened to expose the same before the media if nothing is done about it. The accusation hurled against the younger Ang is merely retaliation for the alleged bombshell, according to the father.

So did he steal the money or not?

Then why is Francis Ang nowhere in sight? He will face the charges in the “proper forum and in the proper time,” according to his father. Hmmm, haven’t we heard the same line before? (Ping! Ping! Ping!)

Our advice: Ang should come out now to prove his innocence. If he does have the documents to support his allegations, he should rush to the media to present them. Better yet, file an appropriate lawsuit in court.

The longer he waits, the more people would think he is really hiding and may, in fact, be guilty. If of course he is indeed guilty, then he has no other recourse but to surrender.

Which side, for you, is telling the truth?

* Discuss this issue in the PMT forum thread Citibank exec goes missing; millions stolen

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24 thoughts on “Citibank scandal: Did Francis Bryan Ang steal the money or not?”

  1. Weather he stole the money or not, the fact of the matter is there is still a big amount stolen or missing.

    The bank should be held liable for this, since he is their employee and the depositors are their clients.

    Reply
  2. definitely guilty. he spends around 50M a year on basketball cards (there is a thread on him at hobbykings.com)this started year 2003
    he buys 3-4 luxury cars a year (some around 10M each)

    buys around 10 luxury watches every year (1M above)

    if he is not guilty, where does he get the money for this??

    maybe his father is a corrupt government official??

    Reply
  3. The father is a councilor in manila.The old Ang is a straight guy…thats why bad guys is taking advantage of the issue to destroy the councilor. Poor Good Guys!
    So for the son Bryan Ang we know that like father like son so show up!
    Speak Up, tell the truth.. You & your father doesn’t deserved this …

    You can’t put a Good Man down…

    Reply
  4. exquisite is denitely correct. i think he is guilty. now, even if he sells his nba rookie exquisite, jordan, kobe, patch autos 1/1 etc…. etc… collections, there is no way he can bring back the money he stole from his clients.

    Reply
  5. This is not normal, especially in a Bank like Citibank. Because banks in general avoid reporting any internal problems when it come to the integrity of their system and the people they hire. Its like telling the whole world that your money is not safe with us! Guilty or not Mr. Ang should come out and tell the truth. I think AMLAC should take a closer look at this case

    Reply
  6. try to investigate Virtual Guide Systems, where he is the financier of the company. the company spends so much, inspite of non perfomance, no sales at all. (i wonder where they got the money now) this company engage in advertising. if you could see information kiosk in sm mall, where digital maps are located, that is their business. each kiosk cost more than 500K, also a spa in new manila.. he owns that!

    Reply
  7. What happened to the victims. Did Citibank paid their clients? I’m worried about this! I know majority of foreign banks sent out $ to other country especially to HK. AMLC is nothing they are also corrupt.

    Reply
  8. Mawab Rural Bank has a similar scandal the expresident has stolen depositors money from term deposits. If a bank employs a criminal that steals their customers money, who is libel for the loss ??? the customer? for trusting a bank officer ? Is Citi Bank liable for these losses.

    Reply
  9. Mawab feels they are not liable because the president did not have the boards approval to steal the time deposits. I recommend investing elsewhere till the Philippines is safe from corruption.

    Reply
    • mawab is also liable. it is not the duty of depositors to check if their employees including their president if they are unscrupulous because it is their obligation to look into the acts of their employees. tho their president uses fake bank documents but it carries the name of the bank

      Reply
    • mawab is also liable. it is not the duty of depositors to check if their employees including their president if they are unscrupulous because it is their obligation to look into the acts of their employees. tho their president uses fake bank documents but it carries the name of the bank

      Reply
  10. Banco Sentral was no help with the Mawab scandal , after 18 months consideration they say go to the courts  then close the bank before you can file a case. seem the govt is helping the theives

    Reply
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