Chong is Maybank group CEO of community financial services
PETALING JAYA: Maybank Investment Bank and Maybank Kim Eng CEO Datuk John Chong Eng Chuan has been appointed the new group CEO of community financial services (CFS), effective July 18.
He will be taking over from Datuk Lim Hong Tat, who will retire from Maybank effective that same day.
Maybank group president and CEO Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said that Lim, who has been an integral part of Maybank over the years, had played a major part in the group’s transformation, particularly given his in-depth knowledge and experience in the consumer banking sector.
“The group would like to thank him for his charismatic and passionate leadership as well as his commitment and dedication, which have played a key role in strengthening Maybank’s franchise in the region,” he said in a statement.
Farid added that Chong is the ideal successor for the post of group CEO for CFS as he had been a part of the group’s senior management for many years.
He had also cultivated strong relationships with local and regional stakeholders and this would hold him in good stead in his new role, Farid said.
“His wide experience and in-depth knowledge of Maybank Group’s operations positions him well to steer CFS to the next level to enable us to realise our objective of becoming the top Asean community bank,” he added.
Maybank is currently identifying suitable successor for the CEO role in Maybank Investment Bank and Maybank Kim Eng and an announcement will be made in due course, once regulatory approvals have been secured.
Chong will continue to lead Maybank Investment Bank and Maybank Kim Eng until further advised.
Chong has 25 years of experience in investment banking with the Maybank Group, having joined Maybank Investment Bank (then Aseambankers Malaysia Bhd) in March 1993 as an officer in the banking department.
Chong holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) degree from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
He is a Chartered Banker of the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers and has completed the Advanced Management Programme at the Harvard Business School.
Within nine years, he was appointed head of debt capital markets (DCM) and was instrumental in establishing Maybank Group’s DCM business, leading it to its current top-ranking position in Malaysia, Asean and globally for sukuk.
In July 2010, Chong was appointed managing director and head of client coverage private sector, and was tasked to develop and implement the group’s very first client-coverage model.
In January 2013, Chong was appointed deputy CEO of Maybank Investment Bank and in September of the same year, he assumed the role as interim officer-in-charge of the investment bank as well as acting head of Maybank Kim Eng, prior to being officially appointed the CEO of Maybank Investment Bank and Maybank Kim Eng in February 2014.
Under his leadership, Maybank Kim Eng established itself as one of Asean’s leading investment banks while maintaining its leadership in Malaysia.
Maybank Investment Bank was also named Best Investment Bank in Malaysia by Euromoney for three succeeding years, from 2015 to 2017.