Mr Phoon Soon Keong, a Malaysian, aged 66, was appointed as a Director on 15 August 2017 and was subsequently appointed Chairman of the Company on 1 January 2018.

He is a qualified Certified Public Accountant, Malaysia (“CPA”) and is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants. He started his career with Price Waterhouse [currently known as PricewaterhouseCoopers ("PwC")] as an articled student in 1975 and obtained his CPA qualification in 1979. He left PwC to start his own practice in 1980 and was a partner in P.C Chan & Partners from 1981 to 1986.  He re-joined PwC Audit Practice as a Senior Manager in December 1986 and was Executive Director in the Firm from 1994 to 2010. During his tenure in PwC, he was the Director-in-charge of the Valuation & Strategy Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting Sdn Bhd.

He has extensive experience in audit, business recovery, turnaround management, corporate and debt restructuring, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and share valuations.

He was the Acting Chief Executive Officer of PanGlobal Insurance Berhad from January 2007 to April 2009.  He was appointed as the Appointed Person of Tahan Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad (“Tahan”) by Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”) under Section 59(4)(a) of the Insurance Act 1996 to assume control of the whole of Tahan’s property, business and affairs and to carry on the whole of its business and affairs on behalf of BNM from May 2009 to December 2010.

He was a Director of Assisi Palliative Care Berhad from 2015 until his recent retirement in January 2022. He also served on the Board of Assunta Hospital from 2005 to 2012 and was the Chairman of the Assunta Board from June 2011 to December 2012 and was a member of the Board of Governors of Pusat Kebajikan Good Shepherd from March 2008 to March 2019. He was a Director of Good Shepherd Services, a charitable organisation, from 2015 to May 2021.

He is also an Independent Non-Executive Director of AmMetLife Insurance Berhad.

Dato’ Sulaiman Bin Mohd Tahir, a Malaysian, aged 59, was appointed as a Director on
1 November 2016. He is a Member of the Nomination and Remuneration of Committee of Directors and Investment Committee of Directors of the Company.

He holds a Bachelor of Business in Accountancy from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) in Australia.  He has a wealth of experience backed by more than three decades of managing and spearheading growth in the Malaysian banking industry.

He is the Group Chief Executive Officer of AMMB Holdings Berhad (“AMMB”) and Chief Executive Officer of AmBank (M) Berhad (“AmBank”), the commercial banking arm of AmBank Group, positions he has held since November 2015.

Prior to joining AmBank Group, he has held many prominent positions at one of the largest banks in Malaysia before his appointment as Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director of the Bank.

He also sits on the Board of several other subsidiaries of AMMB, namely AmGeneral Holdings Berhad, AmMetLife Insurance Berhad, AmMetLife Takaful Berhad and AMAB Holdings Sdn Bhd. He is also a Board member of Financial Industry Collective Outreach (FINCO).

Ms Saime Defne Turkes, aged 47, a Turkish, was appointed as a Director and a Member of Investment Committee of Directors of the Company on 28 July 2022.

She is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Management from Bogazici University, Turkey.

She is the President and Chief Operating Officer, Global Retail Markets of East Region Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd overseeing Malaysia, China, India and Asia Market countries (comprising Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong). She has been in this role since January 2022.

She joined Liberty Mutual in 2006 as Chief Financial Officer of Liberty Sigorta (Turkey), then ascended to Turkish Market President. She has also held roles as Malaysia Market President and Asia Market President and Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Singapore. In her role in Malaysia (Liberty Insurance Berhad), she defined a 5-year strategic roadmap, targets and key initiatives to position Liberty as a top five insurer in the Malaysian insurance market.

She is a Director of Liberty Insurance Berhad and several other Liberty’s subsidiary companies.

Mr Sathasivan Kunchamboo, a Malaysian aged 64, was appointed as a Director on 1 March 2016. He is the Chairman of the Risk Management Committee of Directors, and a Member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of Directors and Audit and Examination Committee of Directors of the Company.

He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the National University of Malaysia. He also holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of London and Certificate of Legal Practice from the Legal Profession Qualifying Board, Malaysia.

He possesses over 20 years of experience in regulating and supervising the Insurance industry in Malaysia, in particular general insurance, offshore insurance, reinsurance and Takaful.

He joined Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”) in September 1982 and retired in November 2013. From December 2005 to November 2013, he held the position of Senior General Manager at Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad, a subsidiary of BNM. Prior to that,
he held various positions in the Insurance Regulation Department at BNM namely, Deputy Director of Strategic Planning, Deputy Director of General Insurance, Senior Manager of Motor Insurance, Senior Manager of Reinsurance, Manager of Labuan Offshore Insurance and Manager of Legal.

He is also an Independent Non-Executive Director of AmMetLife Insurance Berhad.

Mr Wong Teck Kat, a Malaysian, aged 72, was appointed as a Director on 1 March 2016.  He is the Chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of Directors, and a Member of the Audit and Examination Committee of Directors and Risk Management Committee of Directors of the Company.

He holds a Master in Business Administration from Henley, Brunel University, United Kingdom, and a Master in Christian Study from Seminari Theoloji Malaysia. He obtained the qualification of an Associate of Chartered Insurance Institute and was later conferred as a Chartered Insurer.

He has about 41 years of general insurance experiences. He began his career with the Commercial Union Assurance Co. Ltd. in 1970 and was the first trained Fire Surveyor in Malaysia in 1974. He served as the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of Malaysia & Nippon Insurans Berhad and later the CEO of Zurich Insurance Malaysia Berhad. He retired in 2009 from the merged entity of MCIS Zurich Insurance Berhad.

He has also served as a Member of the Management Committee of the Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia and Chairman of its Fire Sub-Committee, Chairman and a Council Member of the Insurance Mediation Bureau of Malaysia, a Board Member of the ISM Insurance Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Chairman of the Council of the Motor Insurance Bureau of West Malaysia and a Board Member of the Financial Mediation Bureau. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Methodist Boys Secondary School, Kuala Lumpur.

Mr Ramesh Pillai, a Malaysian, aged 57, was appointed as a Director on 15 August 2017. He is the Chairman of the Audit and Examination Committee of Directors and Investment Committee of Directors, and a Member of the Risk Management Committee of Directors of the Company.

He holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Economics with Accountancy from Loughborough University, United Kingdom, where he specialised in Economics and Banking in general, and Islamic Banking in particular.  He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (1991) and is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, a Certified Enterprise Risk Manager, a Certified Risk Professional, a Qualified Risk Director, a certified Islamic Enterprise Risk Manager and a Qualified Risk Auditor.

He started his career with Price Waterhouse’s Financial Institutions specialism in London gaining experience in Audit, Consultancy and Corporate Finance assignments. He has over 36 years of risk management experience, both in the public and private sector and has held various positions, including that of Chief Executive Officer, Finance Director and Group Chief Risk Officer (in Conventional and Islamic Banks). He was also with Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad as its Chief Risk Officer as well as Bank Negara Malaysia as the Head of its Deposit Insurance Taskforce.

He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Enterprise Risk Practitioners (providing professional certification and MBA, BBA as well as diploma programs in Enterprise Risk Management) as well as the Group Managing Director of Friday Concepts (International), an International Boutique Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (“GRC”) consultancy. He is a founder and shareholder of TriasGRC, a tech startup developing GRC solutions. Mr Ramesh has recently been appointed as an additional member (non-Board member) of the Board Audit Committee and Risk Management Committee for the Taylors Education Group (TEG).

He is also an Independent Non-Executive Director of AmInvestment Bank Berhad and Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad.