This is an edited transcript of the speech by Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow delivered at Euromoney’s Asia Awards for Excellence Dinner.
![Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow, Public Bank](https://assets.euromoneydigital.com/dims4/default/50178b1/2147483647/strip/true/crop/250x376+0+0/resize/800x1203!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Feuromoney-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F29%2Fa5%2F3caa2bf5539d25cfd223ddc28438%2Fd2b-2047.gif)
“My journey in banking started 54 years ago, though it seems like only yesterday. I guess you do lose track of time when your journey is both rewarding and enriching. Public Bank was founded in 1966 when I was 36. To some of you present here, 36 might seem old but in my time it was the yuppie age. Some thought I was out of my element then, but I was driven by a vision – to build a bank for the public and win the confidence of the public. Today, I am happy that Public Bank is realizing that vision.
Public Bank was founded at a time when banking in Malaysia was mainly the domain of foreign banks. Public Bank set out to target a broad base – the man in the street and the retail businesses, not just the elite and the multinational corporations.
This proved to be a right move as the bank recorded profits from its very first year of operations.