This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 8, 2023 - May 14, 2023
CIMB Group Holdings Bhd CEO of group transaction banking, Rafe Haneef, is leaving the bank and is said to be headed for a bigger role at Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB), which is about to be merged with Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd (MIDF).
Industry sources say Rafe, 53, is set to become the group CEO of the enlarged MBSB-MIDF entity. It is understood that Bank Negara Malaysia has given the green light for his upcoming appointment.
“Rafe is expected to be the group CEO, while [Datuk] Nor Azam [M Taib] will be the CEO at the bank level,” a source familiar with the matter tells The Edge.
Nor Azam, 56, is the current group CEO of MBSB, a role he was appointed to last July. MBSB is the holding company of Islamic lender MBSB Bank Bhd.
Sources say Rafe, who is also the CEO of CIMB Foundation, will be on garden leave from this week after tendering his resignation at CIMB. It is unclear when his last day is.
“CIMB confirms that Rafe is leaving [the group] to pursue an external opportunity,” the country’s second-largest banking group told The Edge when contacted for confirmation of his resignation. “CIMB would like to thank Rafe for his contributions and exceptional service during his tenure and wish him all the best for the future.”
Rafe could not be immediately reached for comment.
On April 14, Main Market-listed MBSB announced that it had obtained Bank Negara’s approval for its plan to acquire MIDF in a bid to become a universal banking group.
It is understood that the next step in their merger plan is to execute the share purchase agreement, after which MBSB’s shareholders will be asked to approve the transaction at an extraordinary general meeting. Sources have indicated to The Edge that the share purchase agreement will be done very soon.
MBSB is 65.87%-owned by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) whereas MIDF, a development finance institution, is wholly-owned by Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB). Sources say the EPF will emerge as the single-largest shareholder of the merged entity with a stake of “between 57% and 59%”, while PNB will hold “between 12% and 15%”.
It is unclear what role, if any, MIDF group managing director Datuk Charon Wardini Mokhzani will have in the enlarged entity.
Rafe was the CEO of HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd for more than five years before he joined CIMB in January 2016 as the CEO of CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd and group Islamic banking. Over the years, he moved into other roles in the group.
A graduate of the International Islamic University in Malaysia, Rafe had practised law at home, specialising in Islamic finance, before pursuing a Masters at the Harvard Law School in the US. He has more than 20 years’ banking experience and previously worked at Citigroup Asia and ABN AMRO Dubai.
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