This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 3, 2024 - June 9, 2024

DATUK Seri Awang Adek Hussin, the executive chairman of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), is understood to be looking to step down. And it seems likely he will be replaced by the SC’s board member Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi, sources familiar with the matter tell The Edge.

It is understood that Awang, who turned 68 on May 18, is looking to leave the SC prior to his contract expiring in late May next year, which has raised a number of questions. He has been at the helm of the SC as executive chairman since June 2022.

Awang is well known in Corporate Malaysia, having been the chairman of state-controlled utility giant Tenaga Nasional Bhd (KL:TENAGA) and Perbadanan Nasional Bhd (Pernas). He was also director of state-controlled unit trust fund Permodalan Nasional Bhd, and spent 17 years in Bank Negara Malaysia, where he rose to the rank of assistant governor.

He was also a member of parliament for Bachok in Kelantan from 2004 to 2008, deputy minister of rural development from 2004 to 2006, and deputy minister of finance from 2006 to 2013.

It is not known what prompted Awang to decide to leave prior to the expiry of his contract.

“At this juncture, the Securities Commission is unable to comment on the matter,” the SC says in an emailed response to The Edge about Awang’s departure and the possibility of Mohammad Faiz being appointed to succeed him.

A source says that news of Awang’s pending departure and Mohammad Faiz’s appointment has been kept very quiet, for reasons best known to the regulator and those involved.

“Not many know about it (Awang’s imminent departure and Mohammad Faiz’s pending appointment) to be honest, but I feel it has been kept silent largely because the government is looking for another role for Awang.

“Initially, when he was first appointed to the SC as executive chairman, there was talk of him going to Bank Negara as the governor, and the SC stint would just be a temporary role before he was bumped up to governor of Bank Negara. But, somehow, that appointment (to helm Bank Negara) didn’t materialise and he (Awang) remained at the SC … Now, if I understand it correctly, a new role is being sought for him,” the source says.

Another source says Awang has been reiterating his intention to leave the SC for some time now, and that his departure could be a result of his requesting for it. “I’ve heard he has wanted to leave for some time now … More than a year actually. So, maybe his wish is being granted. I heard he is leaving soon and the announcement could be made any time now.”

Awang had replaced Datuk Syed Zaid Syed Jaffar Albar, who resigned at end-May 2022 after seven months into his second three-year contract that had commenced in November 2021.

While the reasons for Syed Zaid’s departure were never made known, his leaving coincided with the prickly decision by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to drop charges against troubled oil and gas services company Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd (KL:SERBADK) and four of its senior executives, who were alleged to have falsified financial statements that in turn had resulted in Serba Dinamik racking up record-high revenues of RM6.01 billion for the 12 months ended December 2020.

The four executives of Serba Dinamik had earlier been compounded RM3 million each — a sum considered by many to be nominal and merely a light slap on the wrist but it was the maximum amount permissible under Section 369(a)(B) of the Capital Markets and Services Act — for submitting the alleged false financial statements.

Awang’s stint as SC’s executive chairman has certainly been less colourful than Syed Zaid’s. But the SC, under his watch, did go after some cash trust players, while a number of individuals were hauled up for insider trading activities, among other offences.

Mohammad Faiz was previously the president of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, executive chairman of PwC Malaysia and head of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Islamic Finance team from 2007 to September 2012. He has more than 30 years’ experience in audit and business advisory services of financial institutions in Malaysia, having been involved in the audits of banking, healthcare, power and construction companies, among others.

Besides accounting — he is a member of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales — Mohammad Faiz also has legal background, having read law at Durham University and been called to the English Bar. It is learnt that he is also active in the Kuala Lumpur Business Club and familiar with the many goings-on in Corporate Malaysia. 

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