Nazir youngest recipient of "Lifetime Achievement Award"

Tags: FinanceAsia | Lifetime Achievement Award | Nazir Razak

Written by Darlene Liew
Friday, 04 September 2009 16:22

KUALA LUMPUR: The group chief executive of CIMB Group, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, who transformed CIMB into a Southeast Asian universal bank, has been honoured with the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by FinanceAsia.

He received the award at the FinanceAsia Country Awards dinner in Hong Kong on Sept 3 to acknowledge the accomplishments of banks in 13 countries.

Nazir, 42, joined CIMB in September 1989 as an entry-level executive and worked up the ranks of the organisation until he was appointed CEO in June 1999. Under his stewardship, CIMB transformed from a leading Malaysian merchant bank into a Southeast Asian universal bank with assets of over RM220 billion (US$78 billion) and market capitalisation of about RM36 billion (USD10 billion).

In his acceptance speech, Nazir dedicated the award to his wife Datin Seri Azlina Aziz who has been his "constant source of strength and impartial advice" throughout his 20 year career.

He especially acknowledged her role in ensuring that he stayed true to his conscience in business conduct and maintain personal humility.

The editor of FinanceAsia, Lara Wozniak, who presented the award to Nazir, said: "It's extraordinary of us to be recognizing someone at a very young age of 42 for his lifetime achievement, but that is the true reflection of the success and leadership Datuk Seri (Nazir) has demonstrated over the years."

FinanceAsia publisher Jonathan Hirst said the Lifetime Achievement Award was chosen by FinanceAsia's own editorial team. The award recognised Nazir's outstanding contributions to the banking and finance sector in Asia.

"Aside from propelling CIMB Group to new heights, he has also consistently and continuously demonstrated outstanding thought leadership that has helped shape banking and finance in Asia," said Hirst.

CIMB has the largest retail banking network across Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand with 1,150 branches and is also the world's leading Islamic investment bank.

While the "Lifetime Achievement Award" was the main highlight for the night, the CIMB Group also won five additional "Country Awards for Achievement".

The awards were for "Best Investment Bank", "Best Bond House", "Best Broker", "Best Foreign Exchange Bank" and "Best Private Bank".

The FinanceAsia "Lifetime Achievement Award", which was in its third year, had previously gone to Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow of PUBLIC BANK BHD [] and Deepak Parek of Housing Development Finance Corporation in India.