KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): The appointment of prominent lawyer Datuk Syed Zaid Albar as chairman of Securities Commission (SC) will take effect on Nov 1, 2018, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

This follows the retirement date of Tan Sri Ranjit Ajit Singh which will take effect on Oct 31, 2018, Lim said in a statement today. “This has been agreed to by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad,” he added. 

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) previously announced on Sept 30 that Zaid’s appointment would take effect on Oct 15.

“Datuk Syed Zaid has 38 years’ worth of experience in the legal profession with extensive experience in the advocacy of the regulatory framework relating to securities law and capital markets,” Lim said. 

Zaid was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1980. He served in Skrine & Co and later founded his own legal firm Albar & Partners.

Zaid, according to Lim, studied law at the University of Westminster in the UK and later qualified as a Barrister-at-Law from Lincoln’s Inn, London in 1979.

Lim, meanwhile, thanked Ranjit’s contribution to the Malaysian capital market after about 25 years of service with the SC, with the last six as its chairman.

“During his tenure as SC Chairman, Tan Sri Ranjit helped to preserve stability in our capital markets by focusing on corporate governance, despite the challenge of poor public governance resulting from the 1MDB-related scandals,” Lim added.