HSBC Hires CIMB’s Omar Siddiq as CEO of Malaysian Unit

(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc has hired Omar Siddiq from CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. to head its Malaysian unit, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday

The announcement confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg News, which cited people with knowledge of the matter, that the head of CIMB Group’s wholesale banking division and deputy chief executive officer of CIMB’s Malaysia business will join the U.K. lender after serving a gardening leave period. 

The people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private, said Omar will become the first Malaysian to run the local HSBC unit. He will replace HSBC’s current Malaysia CEO, Stuart Milne, who is retiring end of March, HSBC said in a statement after Bloomberg’s report. 

CIMB Group, Malaysia’s second-largest lender by assets, said in a separate statement that Omar had resigned to “pursue a different opportunity.” 

In the interim, CIMB’s group chief executive officer Abdul Rahman Ahmad will directly oversee the group wholesale banking business, the bank added.

Omar has been with CIMB for more than three years, following stints at RHB Bank Bhd., Malaysia Airlines Bhd. and the country’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd., according to his LinkedIn profile.

Omar didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

HSBC’s presence in Malaysia dates back to 1884 when it set up its office in Penang, according to its website. The unit operates more than 60 branches and employs over 4,000 people in the Southeast Asian nation. 

The U.K. lender’s local unit has the distinction of being the first to be given a license to operate a takaful, or Islamic insurance business, and the first locally incorporated foreign bank to be awarded an Islamic banking subsidiary license in Malaysia, its website shows.

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