RHB Wins Leadership in Financial Services Award

Kuala Lumpur, Aug 9, 2005: The RHB Group of Companies has once again proven why it continues to be regarded as one of the top financial services groups in Malaysia.

Last night, Rashid Hussain Bhd (“RHB”) received the Malaysia 1000 Award 2005 for being an IndustryLeader in Financial Services.

The Group’s Executive Chairman Dato Sri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib received the award from Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Mohd Najib Razak at a gala dinner held at the Shangri-La Hotel, here last night.

Commenting on the Group’s latest accolade, Dato Sri Sulaiman said the award had proven once again that RHB was on the right track. “Credit must go to all employees within the RHB Group for all the hard work that they have put in to bring us to where we are today,” he said.

Also present at the dinner were Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Dato’ Haji Mohd Shafie Apdal, Chairman of the Companies Commission of Malaysia Dato’ Seri Talaat Haji Husain and Chairman of Basis Holdings Sdn Bhd, Prof Datuk Abu Bakar Abdul Hamid.

Representing the RHB Group were Chairman of RHB Sakura Merchant Bankers Bhd, Encik Abdullah Mat Noh, Chairman of RHB Islamic Bank Bhd, Encik Vaseehar Hassan Abdul Razack, several members of the Boards of Directors of the RHB Group of Companies, and senior management personnel.

The dinner was also to celebrate the launching of Malaysia 1000, a directory of the top 1,000 companies and businesses in Malaysia.

Basis is the company that publishes the Malaysia 1000 while the Companies Commission was responsible for rating the companies on the list.

Companies were judged by percentage increase in profit in the categories for individual industries. RHB won for the Financial Services category. There were also awards for top performers ranked by return on capital employed, return on shareholders’ fund and the Perdana Award for the top performing company of the year.

The RHB Group’s improved performance also helped it move up the ranks in the Malaysia 1000 listing. It rose from 124th position to 64th for overall performance ranked by turnover.

Dato Sri Sulaiman said the award would inspire all employees within the RHB Group to work even harder to ensure higher profits.

“Competition within the financial services industry has become more intense, so we need to double our efforts not just to keep up with our rivals, but to be ahead of them,” he said.

“I am happy to note that at RHB, everyone is keenly aware of the need to walk the extra mile so that we can ensure better-than-expected performance, and thus higher returns on investments for our shareholders,” he added.

RHB, one of the top financial services groups in Malaysia, is the holding company of RHB Capital Bhd (“RHB Capital”). RHB Capital, in turn, is the parent company of RHB Bank Bhd (“RHB Bank”), RHB Sakura Merchant Bankers Bhd (“RHB Sakura”) and RHB Insurance Bhd (“RHB Insurance”).

RHB Islamic Bank Bhd (“RHB Islamic Bank”) and RHB Delta Finance Bhd (“RHB Delta”) are subsidiaries of RHB Bank. Among the subsidiaries of RHB Sakura are RHB Securities Sdn Bhd (“RHB Securities”), RHB Unit Trust Management Bhd (“RHB Unit Trust”), RHB Asset Management Sdn Bhd (“RHB Asset Management”) and RHB Futures Sdn Bhd (“RHB Futures”).