17 January 2025
CIMB Group Holdings Berhad (“CIMB Group” or “the Group”) today announced a reorganization of its senior leadership team, further advocating for a purpose-driven, empowered and dynamic organization. Guided by an orderly and robust succession planning process, the reorganization reflects CIMB’s ambitions, complemented by its deep bench strength.
CIMB Group announced that Effendy Shahul Hamid, CEO of Group Consumer and Digital Banking, has resigned to pursue other interests. Effendy has however agreed to remain as an Advisor to the Group CEO until the end of June 2025, in order to facilitate a smooth and orderly leadership transition. Over this period of time, Effendy will also be relinquishing his positions on the Boards of CIMB Group companies; including as Chairman of TNG Digital, and as a Board member in Touch ‘n Go Sdn Bhd and CIMB Vietnam.
Effendy has spent the last 20 years at CIMB, leading numerous business units at the banking Group. Beginning his CIMB career in investment banking, Effendy then took on leadership positions that saw him building out the marketing and communications discipline at CIMB, reorganising its proprietary investments and asset management practices, turning around its commercial bank, building its digital business portfolio and to most recently, running its key customer franchise, the consumer bank. He is also credited with driving the nation’s cashless agenda, conceptualising and executing the Touch n’ Go eWallet joint venture between CIMB’s 100% subsidiary, Touch n’ Go and China’s Ant Group.
“Effendy is a highly respected banker and we are sad to see him go. The Board and Management wish him the best, and we appreciate his loyalty and commitment to the group over the last 20 years.” said Novan Amirudin, Group Chief Executive Officer, CIMB Group.
As part of the reorganization, CIMB Group announced several senior-level appointments, which will take effect on 1 February 2025.
To better align with the Group’s strategic roadmap, Group Consumer and Digital Banking will be decoupled to ensure greater focus in growing both businesses, each of which has its own unique value propositions. Haniz Nazlan, who joined CIMB Group as Group Chief Strategy Officer in 2021, is appointed CEO for Group Consumer Banking. Since joining, Haniz has played a pivotal role in the conceptualisation and execution of key enterprise level initiatives, such as the successful execution of the Forward 23+ Strategic Plan, CIMB Cambodia’s transformation, CIMB’s re-entry into the securities business, and many more. Haniz brings over 18 years of deep expertise in corporate strategy and asset management, having held several leadership positions as the Head of Strategic Asset Allocation and Investment Analysis at Permodalan Nasional Berhad and Chief Investment Officer at Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera.
The Group is pleased to share that Gurdip Singh Sidhu will now oversee CIMB’s digital businesses, which includes Touch ‘n Go Sdn Bhd, Touch ‘n Go Digital, CIMB Philippines, and CIMB Vietnam alongside his role as CEO, CIMB Malaysia and CIMB Bank Berhad. Having spent the last 18 years at CIMB in various senior leadership roles, Gurdip will provide focus and drive strategic priorities to take the Malaysian franchise as well as the Group’s digital assets to the next level. This would include driving greater operating resiliency and effectiveness, innovation and growth.
The Group is expanding Khairul Rifaie's responsibility to assume the Group Chief Strategy Officer (GCSO) role, in addition to his Group Chief Financial Officer (GCFO) position. Appointed as the Group Chief Financial & Strategy Officer, Khairul will lead and drive CIMB Group’s new strategic roadmap in a holistic manner; balancing between the need to grow while exploring opportunities for optimisation to fully harvest CIMB Group’s potential. He began his career at KPMG in London but gained most of his experience as an Equity Analyst with Goldman Sachs in London and UBS in Malaysia before joining CIMB Group.
In line with the Group’s ambitions to harness the value of its ASEAN footprint, Victor Lee Meng Teck is appointed CEO of Growth Markets, covering CIMB Singapore and CIMB Cambodia. Under his leadership of CIMB Singapore as CEO, Victor has successfully turned around the company through operating model refresh, strategic organisational restructuring, and culture reform. With over 25 years of experience in significant parts of the universal banking value chain, Victor has the requisite experience and track record to drive CIMB Group’s growth markets. Prior to CIMB, he has had notable stints with Fullerton Financial Holdings, United Overseas Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Citibank.
The Group is pleased to announce the inclusion of Ros Aziah Mohd Yusoff, its Group Chief Technology Officer to the CIMB Group Executive Committee and the re-designation of Animesh Mukherjee, Group Chief Human Resources Officer to Group Chief People Officer, reporting directly to the Group CEO.
Novan said, “The new organisation structure reflects CIMB’s purpose, strengthens our leadership bench, and consolidates related roles to enhance synergies across the Group. It is designed to enable greater focus and accountability as we advance the Group’s strategic priorities into the next strategy cycle while ensuring operational resiliency."
