Kuala Lumpur, 27 January 2014 – Maybank Asset Management Sdn. Bhd. ("Maybank AM Malaysia") is pleased to announce the appointment of Badrul Hisyam Abu Bakar as its Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") which took effect on 3 January 2014. With Malaysia as the home market and a significant contributor to the Asset under Management ("AUM") for Maybank Asset Management's group of companies ("Maybank AM"), Badrul will drive growth and manage operations for the Malaysian outfit which in turn supports Maybank AM's goal of becoming a key regional player in the asset management industry by 2017.

Badrul reports and plays a critical supporting role to Nor' Azamin Salleh, Group CEO of Maybank AM. Azamin oversees and leads the regional development of Maybank's asset management business. Badrul joined Maybank AM in 2010 as the Chief Investment Officer and later became the Regional Head of Investment when Maybank AM underwent a regional expansion exercise in late 2011.

In welcoming the new appointment, Azamin said, "Badrul is the ideal candidate for the role given his regional exposure and solid investment background from his years in the asset management industry. During his stint as Regional Head of Investment, Badrul demonstrated commendable management skills, successfully turned around the investment team and processes from its local focus to covering global and Asian portfolios and showed significant progress and consistency in our investment performance.

Added Azamin, "Over the past 2 years since we embarked on our regionalisation exercise, Maybank AM has built a strong foundation. We broadened our investment capabilities and expertise focusing on the Asian region, enhanced product manufacturing skills, laid a robust compliance and risk management framework and strengthened our on-the-ground presence in Asean. Today, we are proud of our achievements in becoming a true regional player with presence in the key Asean markets of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia offering an array of fund management and private equity solutions for both conventional and Islamic assets."

He also said that going forward in 2014, Maybank AM is focused on serving investors better by striving to deliver satisfactory investment performance and profits, expanding both our conventional and Islamic product offerings and also build a wider distribution network regionally via new avenues such as an agency force and tapping into other innovative platforms to create a better reach.