3. TAN SRI TEH HONG PIOW

Flagship: Public Bank Bhd Group net worth: RM21.6bil

UNLIKE the others ahead of him in the ranking of the richest people in the country, Teh has been a oneman show who built his wealth through the financial sector. The founder of Public Bank has been largely absent from the public eye for some time, as the 88-year-old banker juggles his time between the office and nurturing his health.

But the bank seems to be ageing like fine wine, going from strength to strength as its share price hit a record high in 2017.

Teh’s wealth increased by 6% last year to RM21.6bil from RM20.3bil in

2016. The rise has been pinned to Public Bank’s strong financial performance which posted a net profit of RM1.4bil in the third quarter. For the nine-month period, Public Bank also increased its dividend a notch to 27 sen a share from 26 sen a share last year.

It is such generous dividends over the years, along with the steady rise in profitability, that has made Public Bank shareholders beam. The one statistic the bank always releases is shareholder returns and in its latest annual report, it showed that a shareholder who had bought 1,000 Public Bank shares in 1967 (the year the bank was listed) and held on to them, would be holding 148,938 shares as at end-2016 valued at RM2.94mil.

In addition, that shareholder would have received total gross dividends of RM1.2mil.

The other big development last year was Teh’s announcement that he would be taking a backseat in January 2019 when he retires as chairman come that year.

He will remain as the bank’s adviser and assume the title of “chairman emeritus” in recognition of his contributions to the bank he founded at the age of 35 in 1965. The bank’s shares hardly reacted, as the announcement of Teh’s departure ahead of the real schedule underlines the strategy of the banking group in putting in place a succession plan and making it public.