In June 2017, Sulaiman Mohd Tahir was in his second year running Malaysia’s sixth-biggest bank by assets, AmBank Group, when he gave a soft-focus interview to a Malaysian jobsite called Graduan.com.
The interview topic was leadership, and the normally media-shy Sulaiman used the occasion to proclaim the virtues of a bank that he had joined in November 2015 as chief executive.
“Integrity is king,” Sulaiman said. “Understanding banking regulations, product knowledge and industry awareness are what all bankers should have. Customers will stay with banks they have confidence in. Such relationships are built on trust, professionalism and transparency.”
Customers will stay with banks they have confidence in. Such relationships are built on trust, professionalism and transparency
What followed for AmBank has been a corporate nightmare; the near-daily revelations about AmBank and its intimate relationship with Najib Razak, the now-disgraced former prime minister, showed how deeply involved the bank was in Najib’s systematic embezzlement of One Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the sovereign fund he chaired.
Najib’s pillaging of 1MDB using his AmBank accounts occurred before Sulaiman was appointed chief executive at the lender in late 2015.
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