KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 12): Omar Siddiq (pictured) has resigned as CIMB Group Holdings Bhd's chief executive officer (CEO) of group wholesale banking and CIMB Bank Malaysia deputy CEO, and joined HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd as CEO.

In a bourse filing Wednesday (Jan 12), CIMB Group said Omar tendered his resignation to pursue a different opportunity.

“Omar joined CIMB Group in November 2018 as group chief operating officer and has since served in various leadership positions, having taken up his most recent roles in October 2020.

“The board and management of CIMB Group would like to record their appreciation to Omar for his exemplary leadership and significant contributions, during his tenure with the group, and wish him well in his future undertaking,” said CIMB Group.

In the interim, its group wholesale banking business will be directly overseen by its group CEO Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad.

Shares in CIMB Group settled at RM5.57, down five sen or 0.89%, as at Wednesday’s noon break. This gave the banking group a market capitalisation of RM56.93 billion.

Separately, HSBC Bank Malaysia said it has appointed Omar as its new CEO.

Omar will succeed Stuart Milne, who will retire at the end of March 2022 after a 40-year career with the HSBC group.

“We welcome Omar into his role as the CEO for HSBC Bank Malaysia to lead us in our next phase of growth. Malaysia presents huge opportunities across some of HSBC’s key strategic focus areas — growth in ASEAN, sustainable finance and digital innovation.

"Omar’s extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the local market will be invaluable as we strengthen our Malaysian operations to support the group’s Asian growth ambitions,” said HSBC Asia Pacific co-chief executive Surendra Rosha.

Commenting on his appointment, Omar said he looks forward to working alongside the management team and also the boards to build on the current momentum to fulfil its potential.

Omar will also join the boards of HSBC Bank Malaysia and HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd as an executive director, as well as a member of the Asia Pacific executive committee.