KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Rakyat announced the appointment of two new board members Datuk Rosman Mohamed and Professor Dr Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha effective April 1, 2019.
Bank Rakyat chairman Datuk Noripah Kamso said the appointment was based on the qualifications and experience of both corporate and Islamic banking.
"Bank Rakyat welcomes the participation of the two new board members to share their experiences and knowledge in leading the bank.
Rosman is the chairman of Global Network Malaysia Bhd, a member of Harapan Bhd's Board of Directors and a director of RM 48 Ventures Sdn Bhd.
He also served Bank Rakyat in October 2012 until December 2013 as Senior General Manager, Corporate Services.
Academician Obiyathulla began his career at Malayan Banking Bhd.
Subsequent to completing his doctoral studies, he was appointed an Assistant Professor of Finance at Boston University, where he taught at both the MBA and undergraduate levels and won the Allen E Beckwith Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Obiyathulla has also been a trainer at a number of institutions including the Securities Commission of Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia. He has conducted training programmes in Islamic Capital Markets at the University of Luxembourg, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Waseda University, Japan.
On December 6, 2018, MED announced the appointment of Noripah as the new chairman of Bank Rakyat, as well as two new board members — Wan Suraya Wan Mohd Radzi (secretary-general of the MED) and Edham Reza Shah Abdul Rahman (an advocate and solicitor).
Noripah was formerly the chief executive of CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd. She replaced Tan Sri Shukry Mohd Salleh, who was dismissed from the post in November 2018, following his alleged involvement in tampering with the original audit report on 1MDB when he was the chief private secretary of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
As an Islamic cooperative bank, Bank Rakyat falls under the control of the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development (MED).
However, since it is also governed by the Bank Rakyat (Special Provisions) Act 1978, which allows it to provide financing to non-members, the bank also seeks regular consultation with the Ministry of Finance.
Bank Rakyat is not like other commercial banks. Set up under the Co-operative Societies Act 1993, it is a cooperative bank that does mainly retail banking — almost 90 per cent of its assets are retail assets — and the bulk of its customers are civil servants. Its business has long been skewed towards personal financing.
Bank Rakyat has embarked on a five-year strategic plan (2018-2022) aimed at growing personal finance at a more controlled pace of under 1 per cent a year, while expanding its focus on home, auto and SME financing. It also accelerated growth in its Islamic pawnbroking business known as Ar-Rahnu.