Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia appoints new chairman and board members

By ANIS FARHANAH MALEK
anisfarhanah@dagangnews.com

KUALA LUMPUR 22 Mac - Just a month after the announcement of its new Chief Executive Officer,  Arsalaan Ahmed,  Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation (Malaysia) Bhd (Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia) has appointed new Chairman, John Roger Winfield (independent and non-executive).

Concurrently, the bank appointed two other Board members, Zulkiflee Hashim (appointed independent non-executive director) and Abdulrahman A. Al Fadda (appointed non-independent executive director).

It said, they join existing board members Steve Paolo Bertamini (non-independent, non-executive director) and Ow Chee Hong (independent non-executive director) to complete the Board composition of the Bank.

“Coming from local and international banking institutions, the new board members bring with them a breadth of experience and diverse leadership qualities that will help steer the Bank towards meeting its strategic plans,” said the bank in a statement.

The bank noted, Roger is a seasoned international banker who brings with him a wealth of experience in commercial banking, trade finance, project finance, financial institutions, wholesale market risk and private banking.

He has held Country CEO positions, with Deutsche Bank and with HSBC. Roger’s banking career has spanned a period of over forty eight years, starting with Lloyds Banking Group which saw him taking up roles in London, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, it elaborated.

“He joined Deutsche Bank in 1992 and went on to establish Deutsche Bank Mauritius., where he was Country CEO for 6 years. Roger held a number of senior positions since joining HSBC in 2005, including Regional Head, Private Banking for the Southern Gulf region for HSBC and was appointed CEO of HSBC Kuwait in 2015 until his retirement earlier this year, 2021.

Roger also held positions as President, Association of Offshore Banks, Mauritius (2000 and 2001), a Non-Executive Director of the Financial Services Promotion Agency of Mauritius, appointed by Minister of Finance, Republic of Mauritius (December 2001 to December 2004), HSBC’s representative to the British Business Group, Northern Emirates, UAE in March 2014, and Deputy Chairman and Treasurer, Board of Governors, The English School, Kuwait from March 2015 until January 2021,” the bank added.

Meantime, Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia said, Zulkiflee is a highly regarded banking practitioner in Malaysia who brings with him more than 35 years of experience.

He spent 12 years with Citibank Malaysia before joining Deutsche Bank Malaysia where he was the Deputy Managing Director responsible for Corporate Banking, International Trade Finance, Operations and Transaction Banking Services.

From 1998 to 2011, Zulkiflee served as Executive Director of Hong Leong Bank Berhad (HLB). Prior to his retirement in 2015, he was HLB’s Chief Operating Officer, Group Strategic Support.

During the tenure with HLB, he was in charge of various areas such as Branch and Banking Operations, Integrated Risk Management, Credit Management, Information Technology, Islamic Banking, Wholesale Operations, Retail Operations, Legal and Corporate Communications & Public Relations.

Presently, Zulkiflee is also an Independent Non-Executive Director of Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Berhad (SME Bank), Hong Leong MSIG Takaful Berhad and GuocoLand (Malaysia) Berhad. He was formerly a member of HLB’s Board of Directors.

Abdulrahman is currently the Group Chief Financial Officer of Al Rajhi Bank based in Riyadh, with over 20 years of banking experience specialising in treasury and investments.

 He joined the Bank in 2015 as Group Treasurer and was instrumental in the KSA transformation agenda, introducing globally leading practices to the treasury function. 

He is presently also a member of the Board Investment Committee of Al Rajhi Company for Cooperative Insurance, Chairman of Al Rajhi Financial Markets Board and sits on various other Boards namely Emkan Finance Company, Al Rajhi Development Company and Al Rajhi Company for Management Services.

Prior to joining Al Rajhi Bank, he was the treasurer of Saudi Investment Bank, Riyadh.

Regarding the appointments, Arsalaan said, the addition of the three new board members adds to the existing strength of the board and provides highly advantageous skills for the Malaysia business.  

“Additional international experience and standards, deep local knowledge and complex transformation know-how at the board level will position our new business strategy very well for success. 

“The appointments reflect the ongoing commitment of Al Rajhi Group to Malaysia and also support for our ambitions to become the number one foreign Islamic bank in Malaysia,” said him in the same statement.

Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia-based Al Rajhi Bank, the world's largest Islamic bank by assets. – DagangNews.com