Monday, May 13, 2013
Thats the sms I received this morning - there is a rumour going around that Nazir Razak will quit as CEO of CIMB and take over the Finance Minister's spot.
Well I have two minds about this. Firstly Nazir Razak is a seasoned banker, he has taken the opportunities presented to him to really prove himself.
Under his stewardship CIMB has completely transformed both as a retail banking giant and more as a corporate and investment banking giant. I think we certainly have a star performer. CIMB has also expanded aggressively overseas and is making money from its foreign ventures. (Some may argue this and that but the bank is going from strength to strength).
Nazir Razak ceratinly knows finance and I hope he can put his talents well in the Ministry of Finance. He gets my vote on this one.
However a couple of points. First of all please do not allow any newer types of speculative bond trading, speculative stock stock market plays, overly speculative FOREX licenses and other speculative financial businesses in our economy especially in our banking and finance community. Since you also are who you hang out with, dont hang out too much with the Singapore types, the American types or even the Hongkee types who often engage in plain gambling. The cats constantly lose their nine lives when they speculate too much.
The second point is Nazir is the PM's brother. The word "nepotisme" will pop out. The enemy would have identified a new target already. But this is low hanging fruit - this is the easy part - just be 100% honest and transparent.
Thirdly the Finance Ministry is not just about banks, money and finance. Far, far from it. The Finance Ministry oversees Government contracts and Government spending. The Finance Ministry can be a place where things can go horribly wrong or it can really make the country hum like a Rolls Royce engine.
This is where the Finance Ministry has to really tighten things up. Things like the ridiculous Lembu Condo fiasco should just not happen anymore. Did you know that the Lembu Condo was approved under the watch of the corrupt Slumberjack regime WITHOUT being discussed in Cabinet?
The Minister had discretion to approve the project without having to discuss it in Cabinet.
Being a banker Nazir Razak would know very well about BAFIA and "approval authority". The Branch Manager at CIMB may have the authority to approve say RM100,000 loans on his own. Anything more must be approved by a higher authority. Any loan say above a million may require the approval of a higher credit committee.
These are simple bankers procedures that have been in place for a 100 years. The Finance Ministry needs to tighten up such procedures throughout Government.
Ministers may not know the front end of an engine from the back end of a cow. So please dont allow Ministers too much discretion. Maybe it is better to keep it to RM100,000 - Branch Manager level.
And stand up to the cronies. Dont allow the cronies to interfere in what is good for the market. The only time I met Nazir Razak in a meeting was because the cronies were involved in hijacking a project - our project. And the GLC Banks had taken sides with the cronies. That was a very, very bad thing to do. If those things happen again, we will lose PRU 14.
Qualification and experience wise I see Nazir Razak in the Ministry of Finance as a plus point for the country.
Politically it will attract negative attention. If he does a good job, people will not mind and overlook that.
Another way out is for the PM to appoint his entire Cabinet for two years only. After two years, they are all automatically terminated. Those that perform will be reappointed or rotated. If not pick new people. Keep everyone on a tight leash. - sumber
Salam
ReplyDeleteKalaulah betul khabar angin ini, satu yang saya harap minta jangan beliau jadikan perbendaharaan seperti bank mak bapa dia punya. Kalau tidak lingkup jadinya negara ini.
Wasalam