This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 16, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak was awarded the Asia House Asian Business Leaders Award at a gala event held in London on Tuesday.

London-based Asia House presents the annual award to individuals for their overall contribution towards economic success, professional excellence, moral leadership and service to society. Past award recipients included Temasek executive director and chief executive officer Ho Ching, Alibaba.com chairman and founder Jack Ma and Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata.

The gala dinner was attended by more than 250 business and political figures from Asia and the United Kingdom, including a delegation from the Asean Business Club (ABC).

Asia House chairman Sir John Boyd said the non-profit organisation acknowledged the success and good works of Nazir who has, among others, underlined the benefits of cooperation and partnership across Asean through his support of learning, independent research and charitable works, as well as in his ambitious business strategy, demonstrating how a commercially successful Asean-wide initiative can bring people together for the common good.

“Over the course of his 26-year tenure at CIMB Group, Nazir steered CIMB from a small merchant bank to becoming the Asean universal banking powerhouse of today.

“Guided by the principles of high-performance, strength in diversity and a no-compromise approach to integrity and governance in business, Nazir laid the foundations for the CIMB Group’s rise to become Malaysia’s second-largest financial services group, the largest Asia Pacific-based investment bank, as well as a world-leading Islamic bank,” said Boyd in a statement yesterday

Nazir also championed the CIMB Asean Research Institute (CARI) in 2011 to help the private sector advance towards an integrated and competitive Asean economy for the benefit of businesses and people.

Nazir said the award recognises the achievements of his colleagues at CIMB Group.

“My career has also been about bringing together Asean businesses in support of economic integration, so this award is also attributable to the team at CARI, and my colleagues at ABC,” he added.