Hsueh Min-lao ( 1 887-) , known as Albino SyCip, banker and civic leader in the Philippines, helped found the China Banking Corporation and became its president in 1939. He was noted for his strenuous efforts to improve economic and social conditions in the Philippines. Although Albino SyCip's ancestral home was Amoy, Fukien, he was born in Manila, where his father was a general merchandise merchant. He attended the Anglo-Chinese School of Foochow and in 1905 entered Ann Arbor High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After graduation from high school in 1908, he entered the Law School of the University of Michigan. He maintained an "A" average, and in his final year he was elected associate editor of the Michigan Law Review. After being graduated in 1912, he returned to Manila, passed the bar examination with a superior rating, and began to practice law.

In 1921 Albino SyCip went to the United States on an important mission for the Chinese business community in the Philippines concerning the so-called Philippines Bookkeeping Law—Act No. 2972 entided "An Act to Provide in What Language Account Books Shall Be Kept, and to Establish Penalties for Its Violation." Chinese merchants in the Philippines deemed the act harsh and unjust and thought it would be detrimental to business. On behalf of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Manila SyCip prepared a petition for the repeal of this law; it was forwarded to the Philippines Legislature by Governor General Leonard Wood together with W^ood's recommendation for the postponement of the effective date of this law to 1 January 1923 (instead of 1 November 1920). It was during this period of postponement that SyCip went to the United States on behalf of the Chinese businessmen in the Philippines. Because he had no direct contact with high officials in Washington, he called on Dean Henry M. Bates of the Law School of the University of Michigan and requested his help. Dean Bates wrote letters of introduction for him to Secretary of Navy Edwin Denby and Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty and obtained a list of interested congressmen for SyCip to see. In Washington, SyCip conferred with the Secretary of War, the chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, and the chairmen of the Senate and House committees on Insular Affairs about the "harsh and unreasonable" features of the Philippines Bookkeeping Law. According to SyCip, these men were all convinced by him of the justice of the Chinese merchants' case, and they assured him that they would do all they could to have this law repealed. SyCip had written a memorandum about the case, and he sent copies of it to high officials in Washington. He described his trip as a success in a letter to Dean Bates, and in 1922 he sent Dean Bates from the Philippines a carved mahogany chair for his office as a token of appreciation for his help. In 1920 Li Ch'ing-ch'üan (Dee C. Chuan), a prominent timber merchant and president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Manila observed that the business community there needed a domestic bank, and he decided to set up the China Banking Corporation with an authorized capital of FIO million. Albino SyCip was asked to help in the establishment of this bank. He became vice president, with Li as president. The China Banking Corporation opened on 16 August 1920. In 1925 it opened a branch in Amoy, and in 1929 it established a branch in Shanghai to serve overseas Chinese in the transfer of funds to China. Li Ch'ingch'üan died in 1939, and Albino SyCip succeeded him as president. SyCip held this office from 1940 to 1951 and then became general manager and chairman of the board. The steady progress of the China Banking Corporation led to the establishment of several domestically-owned private commercial banks in the Philippines.

During the Japanese occupation of Manila, Albino SyCip refused to cooperate with the Japanese. As a result, his bank was taken over by them, and all of its available assets were confiscated. He was arrested by the Japanese in 1942 and condemned to death, but that sentence was later reduced to a prison term of 20 years. However, he was actually imprisoned for less than two years because of an amnesty granted by the Japanese to political prisoners. After the liberation of the Philippines, SyCip was confronted with the problem of reestablishing the China Banking Corporation. In a few years the bank again rose to a position of leadership among local financial institutions. In managing the bank, SyCip worked to create equal employment opportunities for all people of the Philippines by providing credit facilities in every area of commercial, agricultural, and industrial enterprise. Not long after the reopening of his bank, SyCip, responding to the call of the business community, placed his banking resources at the disposal of a great number of businessmen and firms, both large and small, in postwar rehabilitation. He was voted "Banker of the Year" in 1947 and 1952 by the Business Writers Association of the Philippines. In support of the 1952 government policy of encouraging private investment in industries which used domestic raw materials, the China Banking Corporation extended needed credit to new ^nd necessary industries. In 1959 Albino SyCip was given an award for "leadership in the banking industry" by the Philippine Council of Industrial Editors. The success of the China Banking Corporation was largely the result of the sound management of Albino SyCip and his predecessor. SyCip himself set an example for his colleagues. He was a man of great integrity and dedication, and his management policies did much to establish a solid tradition of private banking in the Philippines.

SyCip also worked to promote social welfare and economic development in the Philippines. Rice production was one of the nation's major problems. In 1953 SyCip headed the Benitez Memorial Rice Committee and, in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, conducted the first national rice production contest, which encouraged the nation's farmers to improve yields. The contest became a regular feature of the nation's agricultural life. Clean drinking water was in short supply in the Philippines. In support of President Ramon Magsaysay's appeal for creation of artesian wells in all barrios [villages] of the country. Albino SyCip founded the Liberty Veils Association in 1954. Any person who donated an amount sufficient to build an artesian well could have the well dedicated to the memory of a loved one, with a suitable inscription. SyCip also took keen interest in civic improvement. He was an active supporter of such organizations as the Manila Police Trust Fund, the Philippines National Red Cross, the Community Chest for Greater Manila, the Masonic Hospital for Crippled Children, and the YMCA. He also served as a trustee of Silliman University.

To justify requests from the Phihppines for more economic aid from the United States and to facilitate an early settlement of the Philippines financial claims against the United States as a result of the Second ^Vorld War, Albino SyCip published two pamphlets, "American Economic Help to the Philippines" in 1950 and "U.S. Aid and Philippine Claims" in 1959.

Albino SyCip's efforts to improve economic and social conditions in the Philippines benefited both the Chinese arid the Filipino inhabitants of the islands and resulted in increasingly harmonious relations between the two groups. SyCip became the first Chinese in the Philippines to receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree when St. John's University in Shanghai awarded him this degree in December 1929. He was similarly honored by the University of Michigan in 1955.