In conjunction with fDi magazine, we are pleased to bring you a special report on Malaysia, marking 50 years of the nation’s independence, and examining progress made and hopes for the future, as the country aspires to meet its development goals for 2020.Sponsored by: MIDA Malaysian Industrial Development Authority
The Banker’s Central Banker of the year for 2003, Tan Sri Dato’ Zeti Akhtar Aziz, is now in her second term at Bank Negara Malaysia. She helped Malaysia through the 1997-1998 financial crisis and has since presided over a dramatic consolidation of Malaysia’s financial sector. The country is now reaping the benefits.
Maybank CEO Amirsham Aziz believes Malay banks are ready to face foreign competition, he tells Karina Robinson.A grey-haired man wearing a grey shirt and grey trousers is not a promising subject. But Amirsham Aziz, the unassuming president and CEO of Maybank, Malaysia’s banking behemoth, turns out to be a fan of the Havana-based Tropicana nightclub. He goes on about “the trees, the music, the sound, the acoustics, the colours”. (My emphasis would have been on the three dozen gorgeous mulatas (mixed race girls) who form the chorus line of probably the oldest outdoor cabaret show in the world, but perhaps only women can say these things nowadays.)
Foreign banks are already checking out local acquisitions in the run up to the full liberalisation of the Malaysian banking market in 2007. Bank Negara, the central bank of Malaysia, will then allow foreign banks to buy local ones, although in the next few years it will gradually allow some foreign banks to open more branches and have off-site ATMs.