This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on April 11 - 17, 2016.

Rumours are rife that there could be a reshuffle at the top at Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), the country’s largest banking group.

“The potential reorganisation that the group is exploring involves some key officers, such as the CFO, the CEO of Islamic banking and the CEO of global banking,” says a senior banker.

“In a possible scenario, the current CFO may become the CEO of Islamic business, the current CEO of Islamic business may become the global banking head and the current global banking head may become the CFO,” he adds.

A senior officer at Maybank remarks: “It is not a question of if, but when.”

Another banker says: “This has been the talk for some weeks now. It is understood that the rationale behind the change is to give the leaders at Maybank an opportunity to develop their skill set in different areas and portfolios.”

When contacted, Maybank says it does not comment on market rumours.

“Movements within the Maybank group, at every level, are part and parcel of the career development of our employees, as well as the organisation’s continuous efforts to leverage the diversity and expertise of our staff for greater value creation for all concerned. Announcements of management movements, if any, are made at the appropriate time,” says a Maybank spokesman in an email reply to The Edge.

Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican has been the group CFO of the Maybank group since June 1, 2012. He had worn the CFO’s hat at Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Malakoff Bhd before. He had also served as CEO of Radicare (M) Sdn Bhd — a facilities management concessionaire for hospitals.

Datuk Muzaffar Hisham has been the group head of Islamic banking and CEO of Maybank Islamic Bhd since March 30, 2011. In his nearly 20-year banking career, he has overseen investment banking and Islamic banking, and was involved in various debt and corporate restructuring during the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis.  

Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir was appointed the group head of global banking on Oct 1, 2014. He had joined the Maybank group when it acquired boutique advisory firm Binafikir in 2008. He was a co-shareholder of the firm.

In 2010, Feisal, who was then the managing director of investment banking at Maybank Investment Bank, left the banking group to join Permodalan Nasional Bhd as executive vice-president of special projects. He was later seconded to Chemical Co of Malaysia Bhd as executive director and subsequently appointed as its group managing director. Feisal returned to Maybank in 2014 as group head of the global banking division.

Parked under the global banking umbrella are Maybank Kim Eng Group (investment banking and stockbroking), client coverage, global markets, corporate banking, transaction banking and the Maybank asset management group.

All three C-level executives had studied accounting in university, and Rafique and Feisal are members of professional accounting bodies.

The Islamic and global banking businesses form the larger portfolios of the Maybank group. Its other key businesses are community financial services — under which retail, small and medium enterprise and business banking are parked — and insurance, under Etiqa.

Maybank Islamic — the fifth largest Islamic banking business globally — recorded a profit before tax (PBT) of RM1.64 billion, which translated into an 18% contribution to the group’s RM9.15 billion PBT in its financial year ended Dec 31, 2015. Its return on equity stood at 15.6%. The Islamic banking segment contributed 50.8% to Maybank’s loans and financing in Malaysia as at Dec 31, 2015.

The global banking business registered a PBT of RM3.6 billion, which represented a 40% contribution to the Maybank group’s PBT. This segment’s revenue and PBT grew at a CAGR of 16% and 12.6% respectively from 2010 to 2015.

At Maybank’s annual general meeting last Thursday, group president and CEO Datuk Abdul Farid Alias shared the group’s five strategic objectives — to be the top Asean community bank, the leading Asean wholesale bank linking Asia, the leading Asean insurer, the global leader in Islamic finance and the digital bank of choice.

Maybank’s 2020 aim is to be Asean’s leading financial services provider.

Farid told reporters that Maybank is still looking for mergers and acquisitions to achieve the status of regional organisation with 40% of its pre-tax profit derived from international operations. The banking group’s international business contributed 27% to its pre-tax profit in FY2015.

The CEO also acknowledged that the group had been approached by many parties but that none was right for it.