Maybank Singapore has appointed Datuk Yee Yang Chien as chairman of the Maybank Singapore Limited (MSL) Board, effective 1 October 2024. He succeeds Datuk R Karunakaran, who has retired from Maybank Group after six years of service as chairman, effective 30 September 2024.
Datuk Yee was appointed as a non-independent non-executive director of Maybank on 24 November 2023 and then as a non-independent non-executive director of MSL on 15 August 2024.
Bringing with him a wealth of experience from both local and international financial institutions, Datuk Yee’s career spans external and internal audit, equity research and investment banking. His extensive career also includes nearly 20 years at MISC Berhad (MISC), a publicly listed global shipping conglomerate, where he held several key leadership positions, including vice president of corporate planning, chief operating officer, and eventually president/group CEO – showcasing his ability to lead and manage large-scale strategic initiatives.
During his tenure at MISC, Datuk Yee spearheaded the execution of the Group’s strategies, overseeing significant corporate exercises such as mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments and divestments, corporate bond issuance, initial public offerings, and the incubation and launch of technological and digital start-ups. He retired as the president/group CEO of MISC in September 2022.
Maybank Singapore hopes to leverage his “extensive” background in leading large-scale transformations, which it said will be “invaluable in driving the rapid growth of Maybank Singapore, steering the organisation towards greater sustainable growth and innovation”.
As South East Asia’s fourth largest banking group by assets, Maybank boasts an international network of over 2,600 branches in 18 countries, including all 10 ASEAN countries, with more than 42,000 employees serving customers worldwide. Maybank Singapore is one of the group’s largest overseas operations and a Qualifying Full Bank in Singapore. As at 31 December 2023, Maybank’s total assets in Singapore were approximately $62.36 billion (S$80.25 bn).
