Another Zeti loyalist steps down

KUALA LUMPUR: The resignation of Dr Sukudhew (Sukhdave) Singh as deputy governor of Bank Negara sees another senior member of the central bank who is close to former governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhar Aziz leaving the organisation.

Sukhdave is said to have resigned more than a year ahead of his term, which ends in April 2019.

Sources familiar with the matter said the long-serving economist opted for early retirement.

“Dr Sukhdave’s early retirement does not come as surprise. He was an economist like Dr Zeti and probably was more comfortable with her style of doing things,” said a source.

Following his resignation, the central bank only has one deputy governor left in its ranks - Shaik Abdul Rasheed Abdul Ghaffour.

The other deputy governor’s post was left vacant on Nov 15 last year when Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus was not reappointed after the end of her tenure.

“Nor Shamsiah is now with the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” said a source.

Nor Shamsiah’s departure came seven months after Zeti finished her tenure as governor of the central bank in April 2016.

Nor Shamsiah was in charge of banking regulations and said to be involved in the central bank’s investigations into the financial transactions of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) when Zeti was the governor.

Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim replaced Dr Zeti as governor of Bank Negara effective May 1, 2016.

Zeti was appointed Bank Negara governor in 2000 and saw the Malaysian banking system through its toughest period when consolidation of financial institutions was at its peak.

However in her last 18 months at the helm of Bank Negara, the well-respected central banker was in the limelight for its investigations into the banking transactions related to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

During Zeti’s tenure, Bank Negara fined at least one commercial bank for not complying with banking disclosure rules and issued a letter of administrative compound to 1MDB on April 28, 2016.

Bank Negara’s statement did not disclose the amount of compound imposed on the federal government fund, which had to be restructured because it faced critical cash flow problems.

In mid-May, Bank Negara announced that it had completed investigations against 1MDB.

Zeti also sits on an international financial body. She is a member of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s international advisory panel.

Finance industry officials do not discount Sukhdave also being offered a position in an international financial advisory body.

Sukhdave joined Bank Negara in 1986 and rose to the rank of assistant governor in March 2009.

In April 2013, he was promoted to deputy governor and put mainly in charge of the monetary and economic sectors. After Nor Shamsiah left, he also oversaw the Financial Intelligence and Enforcement Department.

Sukhdave holds a PhD in Monetary and International Economics from Vanderbilt University in the United States.