Malaysia

Effendy Shahul Hamid’s commercial banking division at CIMB has been a standout through 2017 and 2018. As the country underwent an unexpected political revolution, much of corporate Malaysia put business on hold; yet CIMB’s small and medium-sized enterprises business proceeded apace, snaring market share and advancing its digital offerings.

Chief executive Domenic Fuda hasn’t just future-proofed HLB with his mantra of “digital at the core”, he’s also saving it money while earning more too.

Eunice Chan, who runs Maybank’s high net-worth and affluent banking (or HAB) business, divides her clients into three categories; Maybank Private for the uber-rich, Maybank Premier for the simply affluent and Maybank Privilege for the well-on-their-way-to-wealthy.

Bangladeshi banker Abrar Anwar modestly says he is still learning the ropes at Standard Chartered Bank’s Malaysian offshoot since coming on board in Kuala Lumpur last November, after being at the helm of StanChart in Dhaka. But Anwar has got off to a strong start, as indicated by the RM156.9 million ($38.2 million) in profit that his new KL-based team generated in the first quarter of 2018, his first full quarter in charge. That’s 41% higher than the same quarter in 2017. And 2018 hasn’t been easy, as Malaysians waited to see how toxic politics played out.

Bankers could be excused for feeling a sense of déjà vu in Malaysia’s equity and capital markets this year as CIMB showed up in seven of the 10 largest equity and capital market deals in the country. That ubiquity secured CIMB top spot as most active bookrunner among Malaysian investment banks.

The Quek clan’s Hong Leong Bank is Malaysia’s oldest local bank, founded in 1905 to serve the Chinese traders of Borneo, but it feels like the country’s newest bank thanks to the arrival of digital-obsessed chief executive Domenic Fuda, HLB’s first Western boss, two years ago.

Malaysia

The 28th annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll invited chief investment officers, fund managers and investment analysts to take part. Nearly 6,700 valid responses were received from voters representing fund management houses, insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds and wealth managers from around the world.