Public Bank’s Teh honoured with William Seidman Lifetime Achievement

KUALA LUMPUR: Public Bank founder and chairman Tan Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow has been honoured with the prestigious William “Bill” Seidman Lifetime Achievement in Financial Service Industry 2015 award by The Asian Banker.

The Asian Banker chairman and CEO Emmanuel Daniel, who presented the award to Teh on July 28, said the award was to recognise his achievements in developing Public Bank and the Public Bank Group into a leading financial institution.

The award recognises individuals who have reshaped not only the institutions that they worked for, but the financial services industry in their respective countries and regions. 

Emmanuel Daniel said this is the most prestigious of the achievement awards, as it recognises those who have distinguished their reputations, skills and achievements over a lifetime, setting the benchmark from which others are assessed. 

Teh has the distinction of presiding over the top privately owned commercial bank in Malaysia, which also has a substantial and growing presence in the region, including Greater China, he pointed out.

“The bank that he has founded is highly respected and looked at by industry peers as offering best practices in various areas that they hope to emulate and benchmark against. 

“For example its 48 years of unbroken profit track record, above industry return on equity (averaging in the high twenty percent before the new Basel III capital norms) and very impressive cost to income efficiency, in the low 30%. All these made possible by the consistent management focus and strategy that he had established and put in place,” he added.

Teh in his acknowledgement said being the founder of Public Bank and seeing it grow all these years gives him great satisfaction. 

“Looking back, what counted most was to promote excellence and build a strong corporate culture. 

“A culture of discipline and integrity, thereby earning customers’ trust. Like all dreams, mine is only possible with the support of my Public Bank family and members of my board. 

“I would also like to dedicate this award to our customers, shareholders and business associates. My thanks also goes to the Malaysian government for creating a business friendly climate,” he said. 

With this award, Teh who turned 85 this year has received 43 personal to holder awards in recognition of his exemplary commitment to excellence and lifetime dedication to the banking industry.