Malaysian-based financial services provider RHB Banking Group has appointed Wong Kee Poh and Piyanat Aranyakasemsuke as CEOs of RHB Bank (Cambodia) Plc and RHB Bank Bhd Thailand effective from September 1.
RHB on Monday said Wong has more than 34 years of experience in banking and has held numerous senior management and leadership positions in well-established financial institutions in Malaysia.
It said Wong was RHB Bank Cambodia deputy country head from January 2013 and was subsequently appointed as RHB Bank Thailand CEO in 2015.
It added that Wong holds a Master of Business Administration from Lansbridge University, New Brunswick, Canada and a Bachelor of Economics from Kuala Lumpur’s University of Malaya.
Meanwhile, RHB said Piyanat has more than 10 years of experience in financial services, primarily in corporate and commercial banking.
It said Piyanat jointed RHB Bank Thailand in 2015 as the head of business development and served as its deputy CEO from July 2018 to last month until the new appointment.
It added that Piyanat holds a Master in International Business and Administration from Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University and a Bachelor of Economics from Bangkok’s Thammasat University.
“Wong and Piyanat will lead and drive the group’s commercial banking business and operations in Cambodia and Thailand respectively.
“Their appointment will further augment the strength of the group’s leadership team for its regional operations and enhance the group’s presence in both key markets in line with the group’s five-year FIT22 strategy,” it said, referring to its “strategic roadmap” for 2018-2022.
As RHB CEO Khairussaleh Ramli told London-based The Business Year in an interview last year: “Comprising 22 initiatives, FIT22 is designed to achieve our 2022 aspiration, which is to be among the top-three banks in Malaysia in terms of performance.
“[FIT22 is] anchored on three strategic themes, first we want to strengthen Malaysia as our core, focusing on selected segments, as 90 per cent of our income still comes from Malaysia.
“Second, we will be strategic in where we compete overseas. RHB has presence in nine ASEAN countries as well as in Hong Kong. In many of these countries, we will spend our limited resources wisely to compete in selected business areas.
“Third, we need to think about innovation and people’s readiness to meet skills of the future.
“FIT stands for ‘Funding’ the group’s journey, ‘Investing’ in technological and digital initiatives with a medium-term horizon, and ‘Transforming’ the organisation by building a winning operating model that prioritises customer journeys, internal agility and digital enablement,” he said.
Last year, RHB Bank Cambodia posted 3.877 trillion riel ($969 million) in total assets, up 25.8 per cent from 3.082 trillion in 2018, data from the National Bank of Cambodia show.
It logged 305.625 billion riel in paid-up capital (up 1.4 per cent), 106.906 billion riel in gross operating income (up 14.6 per cent), 58.292 billion riel in net profit (up 221.0 per cent), 2.579 trillion riel in deposits (up 9.60 per cent) and 2.022 trillion riel in loans (up 13.4 per cent).
On the Bursa Malaysia, RHB Bank Bhd’s share price inched up 0.01 sen (0.24 US cents) or 0.21 per cent to close at 4.70 ringgit ($1.13) on Tuesday for a market capitalisation of 18.847 billion ringgit, with 2.12 million shares traded.
