Tan Sri Amirsham A Aziz
former CEO, Malayan Banking Bhd
minister in the prime ministers department

One could describe Tan Sri Amirsham A Aziz, the former president and CEO of Malayan Banking Bhd, as one of the personalities that shook Corporate Malaysia in 2008.
While he wasnt around to see the deal to fruition, Amirsham was one of the key people who orchestrated Maybanks acquisition of Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII). It was the year when Maybank, seen as staid and conservative, uncharacteristically decided to make three acquisitions within a span of as many months.
The road to the BII acquisition actually began two years ago, although the agreement was signed end-March. The BII deal, as we know, had been mired in controversy since it was announced.
Amirsham left Maybank in mid-March, two months earlier than expected to serve as Minister in the Prime Ministers Department.
He was having dinner with friends when he received a phone call one fateful evening in March that threw into disarray all his retirement plans, including spending more quality time at home.
This writer remembers Amirsham saying early this year that he wanted to leave the corporate world while he was still at the peak of his health, and that he intended to let the money he had earned from three decades working for Malayan Banking Bhd work for him. You cannot be slave to the money all the time, he had said then.
The phone call was from the prime minister, asking him to be the Minister in the Prime Ministers Department heading the Economic Planning Unit. Amirsham was given less than an hour to decide.
It was a call to do national duty that he could not ignore.
Amirsham is heading the EPU at a very critical period for the Malaysian economy. The global economy is in the throes of a global financial crisis, and Malaysia, being a small, open and export- dependent economy, is already feeling the spillover impact from the crisis.
Many major economies in the West are already in recession, and the worry is that no one will be spared from the crisis. It is a matter of the extent of the damage, and how policymakers deal with the fallout.
It is in this regard that Amirsham will be a personality to watch in 2009. The questions being asked are many, one of which is how much of the Ninth Malaysia Plan, a five-year blueprint that lays out the development plans for the economy from 2006 to 2010, is still relevant if Malaysia slips into recession.
Given his portfolio, Amirsham will be one of the key architects in planning Malaysias response to the crisis and the transformation of the economy to prepare it for the upturn. Certainly, the focus will be on whether Amirsham can break out of the constraints that have hamstrung the governments efforts. - By Anna Taing

Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop
Second Finance Minister

After 10 years of playing an instrumental role in shaping policies that determined the pace of corporate developments in the country, the 61-year-old Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop could have another role in the coming years.
Whether that is true or not, is left to be seen. But what political observers are saying about the technocrat, who master-minded Malaysias currency controls in 1998 and initiated the reforms of corporate Malaysia two years later, is that his experience will be tapped to implement broad economic policies targeted at enhancing the corporate sector.
According to an observer, the economist is often called upon to trouble-shoot special projects of the government, a role he was well known for under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Nor Mohamed, who made his political debut this year as the Member of Parliament for Tasek Gelugor, was handling the reform of government-linked companies (GLCs) and involved in the overall implementation of special projects such as the Bakun Hydroelectric Dam and Second Penang Bridge.
Under Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the mega projects that are likely to come on stream are the Pahang-Selangor water transfer project and the multi-billion construction and commissioning of the undersea cable to transmit the power from Bakun. Another major revenue earner will be the development of land that belongs to the federal government.
But the general perception is that Nor Mohameds expertise will be used to a lesser extent on special projects and instead be harnessed to fine-tune broad economic policies.
For instance, in 2008, one of his responsibilities was to come up with measures that would ensure subsidies are channelled to the right target groups. Cash payments for motorists renewing their road tax and direct diesel subsidy for fishermen were among the measures.
Although Nor Mohamed is now a politician, he does not harbour any political ambitions. A technocrat he will continue to be. But to what extent he will influence government policies after March next year remains to be seen.- M Shanmugam

Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar
President and CEO, Malayan banking bhd
For Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, 2008 must have been an extraordinarily busy year.
He describes the year as a very action-packed, dramatic and deflating year for me. Action-packed because of the tight timelines for the completion of the TM demerger, and subsequent work on Maybank performance improvement programme; dramatic because of the abrupt entry into Maybank and the twist and turns in the BII acquisition; deflating because of the deflating investments both personal and the companys.
It was in 2008 that Wahid helped see to conclusion a demerger exercise within Telekom Malaysia before he moved on to take over stewardship of the countrys biggest banking group, Malayan Banking Bhd.
But it must surely be in Maybank that Wahid encountered some of the toughest challenges in his career.
Not only had he to take over the baton from Tan Sri Amirsham A Aziz earlier than expected, he was thrown into the deep end, where he had to sink or swim on his own.
Indeed, he had to swim against very strong undercurrents, because after years of inertia, Maybank suddenly went on a buying spree. Within a span of less than three months, the bank announced three major acquisitions costing more than RM10 billion in Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam.
Even before Wahids entry, Maybanks acquisition of Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) from Singapores Temasek Holdings had drawn a lot of flak because of the steep pricing.
Wahid, in an interview with The Edge three months into his captainship of the countrys largest banking group, says that it had been very hectic from day one, and that there were several heart-stopping moments as well.
Barely two months at the helm, Wahid faced his first crisis Bank Negara Malaysia revoked its approval for the acquisition of BII in July, which sparked a chain of events, the ripples of which were felt in three countries Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
The rest is history Wahid managed to renegotiate the price, and in the process, reduced the acquisition price of BII by RM1 billion.
Amid all the brouhaha over BII, Wahid managed to launch a major transformation programme, Leap 30, to make Maybank into a regional, and even a global champion by 2015.
Wahid will continue to hog the limelight in 2009 because the investing community is curious to see how he will steer Maybank through turbulent times. In particular, all eyes will be on Indonesia, because it is one of the Asean economies that is expected to be hit hard by the global financial crisis, and Pakistan, which, apart from the economic crisis, is also facing political uncertainties.
At home, there are great expectations for Wahid to lift Maybank to a higher level of growth. In particular, focus will be on Aseambankers, said to be a weak link.
During the seven months he has been in Maybank, Wahid has worked very hard to meet his KPIs. So far, he appears to have things under control, but the true test of his mettle as a banker is yet to come. Indeed, for Wahid, 2009 could turn out to be even more challenging than 2008. - Anna Taing

Medium-to-large enterprises (MLEs) worldwide are more hopeful of the economy this year, with optimism levels increasing to an optimism balance of +24% over the past 12 months from –16% noted last January, according to Grant Thornton International’s optimism/pessimism index for 2010 released on Tuesday, Jan 5.

Based on Grant Thornton’s annual International Business Report (IBR) survey of over 7,400 MLEs across 36 economies, the optimism/pessimism index reports optimism and pessimism levels using balance statistics, which is the percentage of respondents who reported a figure rising minus the percentage who reported it decreasing.

The study showed 10 markets where businesses were more positive in their markets’ economic outlook than International Monetary Fund (IMF) 2010 forecasts. These markets are Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Armenia and Argentina.

Businesses in Chile, India, Australia, Vietnam and Brazil were the world’s most optimistic, with scores of over +70%. Trailing behind at a minimum of +60% were South Africa, mainland China, Singapore, Canada and Hong Kong. Globally, Hong Kong saw the most drastic change in optimism, increasing from –49% last year to +64% this year, underpinned by the economic recovery in both China and the West.

The European Union emerged as the most pessimistic region, recording +7% on the optimism/pessimism scale while Latin America (+48%) and Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (+64%) recorded high optimism scores.

Corporations in Malaysia recorded the most optimistic level in five years of participation in the IBR survey with a +49% optimism balance.

In a Jan 5 press release, SJ Grant Thornton managing partner Datuk NK Jasani credited the high optimism level to the government’s stimulus measures, which have sustained the local economy as export activities and the manufacturing sector continue to pick up.

Findings showed that businesses were more positive on all economic indicators -- export, employment, revenue, investment in new buildings, investment in plants and machinery and research and development. The exception was selling prices, which dropped three percentage points from last year.

In Malaysia, business owners were very positive on expecting increased revenues (+60%), investments in plant and machinery (+45%) and profitability (+41%).

Jasani said these expectations were reflective of businesses that have become leaner and more cost-effective during the recession, which would enable them to lower prices while still securing increased revenues and profits.

“As the global economy emerges from recession, we are likely to see many businesses reaping the rewards of recession induced efficiencies to lead the way in the upturn,” he said.

In preparation for the upturn, 69% of businesses in Malaysia have indicated that they have focused on new target markets, followed by 47% who cited skills of current workforce and 46% who indicated that they have been focusing on new products or services.

Local businesses’ priorities coincided with the top three global economic strategies – new target markets (51%), skills of current workforce (47%) and new products or services (46%).

When asked to rank the likely business trends for 2010, companies worldwide had the highest hopes for increased revenues in the coming year (+40%), followed by increased investment in plant and machinery (+31%) and profitability (+29%).

European businesses, particularly Ireland, Italy, France and Spain, were the most pessimistic in employment expectations with an average negative balance of -1% compared to Asia Pacific (+33%) and Latin America (+42%).

Jasani said that while globalisation was blamed for the speed of the downturn, it might also help accelerate the economic recovery as well.

“Businesses in the giant emerging markets of mainland China, India and Brazil are confident that they can help pull the rest of the world back into growth, and businesses in many economies are equally optimistic. European governments will hope such optimism is well founded,” he said.

“MLEs contribute 81% of global GDP, and the global business community should be encouraged by the results of this survey,” he added.

The IBR survey, currently in its 18th year – eight of which included non-European markets – was conducted using postal, telephone and face-to-face interviews between October and November last year.