FIDE FORUM - Our Board

Datuk Kamaruddin Taib

Chairman

Independent Non-Executive Director

Datuk Kamaruddin has significant experience in investment banking, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions. His career started in 1980 with a leading merchant bank in Malaysia. Subsequently, he served as a director of several private companies, companies listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad and companies listed on the Stock Exchange of India as well as listed on Nasdaq (U.S.A.).

Datuk Kamaruddin is currently the Independent Non-Executive Chairman of HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad, Malaysian Life Reinsurance Group Berhad, RAM Holdings Berhad and its wholly owned subsidiary RAM Rating Services Sdn Bhd, as well as FIDE FORUM (Financial Institutions Directors Education FORUM).

He’s also a Director of Great Eastern General Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad, Fraser & Neave Holdings Berhad and Malaysia Smelting Corporation Berhad. He obtained Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from University of Salford, United Kingdom.

Ms Pushpa Rajadurai

Board Member

Ms Pushpa Rajadurai has held various Senior Management positions in the Ambank Group for over 27 years covering Investment Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking and Commercial Banking. Her last post was Managing Director of Wholesale Banking Ambank Group. She was a board member in 12 entities within Ambank Group over the past 15 years. Notably, she was a board member of the then-listed AmInvestment Bank Bhd, Chairperson of the board of Amfunds and AmIslamic Management Bhd and board member of the Manager of Listed Am Reits.

She has represented on steering committees/panels spearheaded by the BNM, SC, Bursa, CCM, MASB, and FSPB. She was the Alternate Chairman of the Malaysian Investment Banking Association and a board member of the Asian Banking School Sdn Bhd. She also actively collaborated between the banking industry and regulators among countries in the ASEAN region to promote and further develop regional capital markets.

Ms Pushpa is a Fellow Member of The Chartered Association of Certified Accountants United Kingdom and a Chartered Accountant of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Encik Mohammad Nizar Idris

Board Member

Encik Nizar had extensive legal and business experience working for the Government and the private sectors in Malaysia and internationally.

He started his career with the Government of Malaysia. He was a Senior Federal Counsel in the Attorney General's Chambers, advising the Government of Malaysia. He was the legal advisor to the Ministry of Finance on tax and fiscal matters. He drafted several tax statutes and negotiated Double Taxation Treaties with a number of countries. He also represented the Government of Malaysia on several landmark cases both in the courts in Malaysia and at the Privy Counsel in London. He was later headhunted to join the Royal Dutch Shell group of companies.

He worked for Royal Dutch Shell in Malaysia, UK and in the Netherlands. In his last appointment in London he was the Head of Legal in Shell International Petroleum Company Ltd responsible for the mergers, joint ventures and acquisitions for the Shell group worldwide. He retired from Shell as the Executive Director of the upstream, downstream, manufacturing and refining, gas, property and investment companies of Shell in Malaysia. He was the Chairman of the Shell holding company in Malaysia, Shell Malaysia Ltd and the Shell Chemicals company in Malaysia.

After his retirement he was appointed as a director on the boards of several companies, He was an independent non-executive director of RHB Capital Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, RHB Investment Bank, RHB Unit Trust Management Bhd and RHB Insurance Bhd. He was also a Director of Khazanah Nasional Bhd and sat on the boards of its subsidiaries. He was the Chairman of Fitters Diversified Bhd, Pacific & Orient Insurance Bhd. and Bechtel Bina (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd

He was a Trustee of the Shell Malaysia Retirement Fund and The Shell Malaysia Provident Fund. He was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and a Director of Malaysian Institute of Economic Research. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery. He was the President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Club Malaysia.

Currently he is the Chairman of MCIS Life Insurance Bhd and CDC Consulting Sdn Bhd.

Mr Choong Tuck Oon

Board Member

Mr Choong Tuck Oon is an independent non-executive director on the Boards of Generali Life Insurance Malaysia Bhd, CGC Malaysia Berhad, CGC Digital Sdn Bhd and Star Media Group Bhd. He is active in the ASEAN digital startup ecosystem when he advises fintech, insurtech, payments, marketplace and health tech ventures.

He was previously an independent non-executive director on the Boards of NTUC Income Insurance Cooperative Ltd Singapore, RHB Bank Bhd, RHB Islamic Bank Bhd, RHB Indochina Bank Ltd, RHB OSK Indochina Securities Ltd and RHB Private Equity Holdings Sdn Bhd. Mr Choong was with Accenture for over two decades, where he retired as a Senior Partner in the Asia-Pacific Financial Services practice.

Mr Ou Shian Waei

Board Member

Mr Ou Shian Waei is the Independent Director of Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad. He serves as Public Interest Director, Chairman of Private Pension Administrator Malaysia and Independent Director of FIDE FORUM. He previously served as AIG Malaysia's Chairman and Director of Alliance Financial Group Berhad and Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad. Mr Ou served as CEO/Country General Manager of IBM Malaysia from 1996 to 1999 and was appointed to the same role again in 2007 until his retirement in January 2010.

Before joining IBM in 1976, Mr Ou was a key member of the Corporate Planning Department of Malayan Banking Berhad, which implemented the first online banking system for the bank in Malaysia and MBB Singapore.

Mr Adil Ahmad

Board Member

Mr Adil serves as an Independent Director at FIDE FORUM and at Vingroup JSC, Vietnam. He has previously served as Chairman/Independent Director of FWD Takaful Berhad, and as Independent Director of HSBC Amanah Malaysia Berhad.

Mr. Adil has 35 years of leadership, strategy, risk management, business and governance experience in international banking and finance. He began his career at ANZ Bank, where his roles included: Head of Investment Banking at ANZ Pakistan; Director and Head of Global Islamic Finance at ANZ Investment Bank, London; Senior Executive Group Strategy in ANZ Bank’s head office in Australia; CEO ANZ Bank in Vietnam. Mr. Adil’s final executive role was as CEO of Kuwait International Bank, Kuwait, where he led a very successful two-dimensional transformation of the bank from conventional to Islamic, and from a limited license real estate bank to a full commercial bank.

Since retiring to Malaysia, besides his directorship responsibilities, Mr Adil has also advised international clients on strategic and financial matters in South and South East Asia.

Mr Adil holds an MBA (Finance & Accounting) and a BA in Economics (with distinction), both from Cornell University, USA. He has also attended the Insead Senior Executive Management program.

Che Zakiah Che Din

Board Member

Che Zakiah Che Din is the Independent Non-Executive Director of Maybank. She serves as Chairman of the Board's Compliance Committee and a member of the Board's Audit Committee and Credit Review Committee. Within the Maybank Group, Che Zakiah currently sits on the Board of Maybank Investment Bank Berhad and Maybank Kim Eng Holdings Limited. She is also the Chairman of the Board of Members of Maybank Kim Eng Securities Limited (Vietnam).

Che Zakiah has 35 years of experience working with Bank Negara Malaysia ("BNM"). She joined BNM in 1982 and served in various departments and positions. She was the Director of the Financial Conglomerates Supervision Department of BNM from 2004 until her retirement on 30 April 2017. Her primary responsibility under this role was to oversee the implementation of prudential supervision on eight domestic banking groups consolidated. The supervision focused on the enforcement of prudential regulations and measures to mitigate Anti- Money Laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) risks.

Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad

Board Member

Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad is currently Chairman of CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, CIMB Bank Berhad and CIMB Bank PLC Cambodia. He was the President of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) from August 2011 to July 2013. In September 2013, he was elected to the Council of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the United Kingdom and completed the maximum 9 years’ tenure in November 2022, after being re-elected in September 2016 and November 2019.

On 1 May 2021, he was appointed a member of the Financial Reporting Foundation and Chairman of the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB).He brings with him vast experience in the areas of leadership, management, operations, finance and accounting which spans over 40 years, having started his career as a Trainee Accountant with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) in 1979 and moving on to hold various positions in the Finance Division.In January 1993, Datuk Mohd Nasir was seconded to TNB’s subsidiary company, Malaysia Transformer Manufacturing Sdn Bhd as Financial Controller before being appointed its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in June 1994.

In January 2000, he joined Sharikat Permodalan Kebangsaan Berhad as its CEO. On 1 June 2001, he was appointed CEO of Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad, a position he held until his retirement on 1 June 2011.

Datuk Mohd Nasir also holds directorships in private companies namely CIMB EOP Management Sdn Bhd and Touch n’ Go Sdn. Bhd.

In addition, he is also a Trustee of Yayasan Canselor UNITEN, Perdana Leadership Foundation and Chairperson of CIMB Foundation.