Maybank’s BII chief Khairussalleh to transfer back to KL soon?

Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli, the president director of Maybank’s Indonesian unit, is said to be transferred back to Kuala Lumpur very soon, 18 months after his appointment in Jakarta.

His time at PT Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk (BII) is being cut short to prepare him for a bigger role in Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Malaysia’s biggest bank and Southeast Asia’s fourth largest, a source said.

The Maybank board is evaluating several internal and external candidates, including Khairussaleh, to take over from president and chief executive Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, who will assume a Cabinet post starting tomorrow.

According to some sources, Khairussaleh is believed to be Wahid’s top personal choice as his appointment at BII was also highly favoured by the outgoing chief.

The announcement of the appointment is expected to be soon, maybe as early as today, to coincide with Wahid’s last day at the bank.

Khairussaleh’s position at BII may have been short-lived, but in the past year, he led the Indonesian bank’s operations to post good financial results.

Last year, BII reaped a US$124.2 million (RM384.9 million) net profit, contributing about seven per cent to the Maybank group’s total profit, higher than the 5.2 per cent it contributed in 2011.

It is poised to take over from Singapore as Maybank’s major overseas contributor. Last year, contribution from Singapore

operations decreased to 14.4 per cent from 15.1 per cent in 2011.

Listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, BII is one of Indonesia’s top 10 banks by assets, operating 415 branches

that are expected to grow to 450 by year-end.

Prior to his appointment as BII president director, Khairussaleh had been Maybank group chief financial officer since November 2008.

Before joining Maybank, he served in Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) for two years as its group strategy officer under Wahid. He was also the project director for the demerger exercise of the TM group.

Khairussaleh also spent eight years with Bursa Malaysia, holding various positions before rising to the post of chief financial officer in 2004.

In a poll conducted by Finance Asia in 2011, he was voted Malaysia's CFO of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Khairussaleh holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration from the Washington University and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School.

Wahid, in his last meeting with the media as Maybank CEO last week, said the bank's new chief must possess sound banking knowledge, and be able to manage large organisations with the experience of taking companies regionally and operate in international environment.

- Business Times