interview with Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd Datuk Seri Zukri Samat at Menara Bank Islam, KL on 29 May 2014.The Star/Sia Hong Kiau
KUALA LUMPUR: BIMB Holdings Bhd
has identified an internal candidate as its new group chief executive officer (CEO) to replace Datuk Seri Zukri Samat who will be retiring after helming the group for 11 years.
Zukri said an internal appointment would be good to boost the morale of the staff and the group had submitted the name to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) for approval.
“We have yet to receive a feedback from the central bank and we hope it will come soon. However, we do have a fallback plan for someone to take charge, just in case there is a few weeks gap (for the approval) when I leave.
“I am looking forward to take a breather for a few months. The pace has been very intense for the past 11 years,” he told Bernama.
Zukri was appointed as managing director of Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd on June 9, 2006, and group CEO of BIMB Holdings on Feb 18, 2015. Turning 59 this year, he will officially retire on June 8.
He pointed out that one of the first tasks of the new CEO would be to look into BIMB Holdings’ plan for a group-wide restructuring, which also entailed the review of its 60% stake in Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd.
At this juncture, he said, the group was still going through the details of the restructuring and had yet to reach any concrete decision.
It was earlier reported that BIMB Holdings had considered a restructuring exercise to maximise value for shareholders and fulfill regulatory compliance, which could possibly include the sale of its stake in Takaful Malaysia.
Zukri said the bank was technically bankrupt in 2006 with losses up to RM1.8bil, exceeding the shareholders’ fund of RM1.4bil due to high non-performing loans of up to 30% and weak credit management in its offshore operations in Labuan.
When asked what made him took up the daunting task of turning around Bank Islam, Zukri said that he was initially reluctant as it was public knowledge that the company was a sinking ship.
However, he found it hard to turn down the request from the then BNM deputy governor Datuk Mohd Razif Abdul Kadir.
“After being managing director of Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd for seven years, I joined Khazanah Nasional Bhd as an executive director for three months and then one fine day, I received a call from the late Datuk Razif, asking me to take a look at Bank Islam.
“He told me that as a Muslim, I was duty-bound to help and with that, I could not turn him down,” Zukri recalled.
After 12 months of being master of the sail, not only did Zukri and his team return Bank Islam to profitability, but the bank also recorded the highest profit in its history.
Bank Islam managed to restart its business with a capital injection of RM1.014bil in October 2006 when two shareholders were brought in, as part of its turnaround plan.
Under the proposed restricted issue, 690.19 million new Bank Islam shares were to Dubai Financial LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai Investment Group, for RM828.22mil, while 155.29 million new shares were issued to Lembaga Tabung Haji for RM186.35mil.
“At the time, Dubai Investment Group was aggressive with their expansion and we managed to convince them.
“They came in because they know Bank Islam as we were the first Islamic bank in this part of the world, so the branding is already there. We never looked back since then,” he added.
Meanwhile, returning Bank Islam to the black was not only his notable achievements.
During his tenure as managing director of Danaharta, the national asset management company established to manage non-performing loans during the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis, Zukri managed to surpass the company’s recovery target, thus raising his profile as a game changer.
Before his stint at Danaharta, he served various banking and financial institutions, including Credit Agricole Indosuez Labuan, Commerce International Merchant Bankers and Public Bank.
Zukri holds a masters in business administration degree from University of Hull, the United Kingdom and diploma in accountancy from Universiti Teknologi Mara.
He had also served as chairman of trustee and director of Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia, director and an executive committee member of the Asian Institute of Finance, and a member of the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council. - Bernama
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