Career banker Chay Wai Leong to lead RHB INVESTBANK

KUALA LUMPUR, 31 Oct 2006: Career investment banker Chay Wai Leong, who will assume his new position as Chief Executive Officer of RHB Investment Bank Bhd (“RHB INVESTBANK”), formerly known as RHB Sakura Merchant Bankers Berhad (RHB Sakura), on 1 November 2006, has about 20 years of experience in the financial services industry under his belt.

A major part of his career has actually been in investment banking, making him a natural choice to be the first chief executive of RHB INVESTBANK.

Chay, a Singaporean, has worked and lived in Malaysia for the past 10 years, giving him an intimate knowledge of the domestic investment banking landscape that is expected to serve him well in his new job, according to Chairman of RHB INVESTBANK, Dato Abdullah Mat Noh.

RHB INVESTBANK will be a merger of RHB Sakura with its subsidiaries RHB Securities Sdn Bhd and RHB Futures Sdn Bhd. The RHB Banking Group received approval from the regulatory authorities late June this year to form an investment bank.

The choice of the 43-year-old Chay to lead RHB INVESTBANK was based on his expertise in investment banking, honed over years of exposure to the sector both in Malaysia and abroad. Chay graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore in 1987.

Following his graduation, he joined the Bankers Trust Brokerage in Singapore as a Senior Investment Analyst before moving to Hong Kong to take up the post of Director of Investment Banking at Jardine Fleming Securities Ltd in 1990.

At Jardine, he was responsible for origination and execution of transactions not just in Hong Kong but also in China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Seven years later, he came to Malaysia to assume his new position as Director and Head of Corporate Finance at Pesaka Jardine Fleming Sdn Bhd. When Jardine Fleming merged with Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000, he was appointed Director and Head of Investment Banking for Chase JF Malaysia. Following the merger with JP Morgan in 2001, Chay was appointed Director and Head of Investment Banking for JP Morgan Malaysia.

In 2002, Chay left JP Morgan to join Standard Bank, South Africa’s largest financial group, as a Country Head for Malaysia. Concurrently, he was also Director for Regional Originations for Standard Bank Asia Ltd in Hong Kong and a Director at Standard Merchant Bank (Asia) Ltd, Standard Bank’s merchant banking unit based in Singapore. He held these positions until his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of RHB INVESTBANK.

In the 20 years he has served in the investment banking sector, Chay has played a major role in several major transactions in Malaysia as well as in the region. The team he led in JP Morgan Securities Malaysia also won Euromoney’s Annual Award for “Best Foreign Securities Firm in Malaysia” for four consecutive years from 1997 to 2000.

Dato Abdullah expressed confidence that with Chay’s extensive experience and good track record as an investment banker, he would be in a position to transform RHB INVESTBANK into a formidable player in the financial services sector not just in Malaysia but in the region as well.

“We expect him to be able to build up a strong management team in the process by imparting his knowledge and skills,” Dato Abdullah added.