CEO Forum 2014
concurren t session e
“How can Malaysians and Malaysian companies
best prepare for a financial crisis?”
moderator
Mr Ahmad Zakie Ahmad Shariff |
Non Executive Director,
FA Securities
“When a crisis comes, the thing that
we will look closely at would be our immediate surroundings. After the Asian
Financial Crisis, Malaysia made sure our
banks were leaner, more agile and resilient. There were regulations to prevent
over-exposure to foreign currency borrowings. This helped to make Malaysia
more robust and, may I say, a more prudent capital market.”
Datuk Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid |
CEO, MRT Corp
“I want to talk about the 5Cs of managing a financial crisis: Confront reality,
otherwise you would not be around for
a very long time. Be Creative - you have
to innovate and think on your feet. Have
Courage - if you do not make a decision,
you are not being a good leader. Communicate – your team needs to know
what is going on. Lastly, don’t forget
Customer acquisition and retention. You
still have to look for markets and you
still have to make sure you can afford
the payroll that you have.”
Mr Keith Pogson | Senior Partner,
Financial Services, Asia Pacific, EY
Dato’ Mirza Mohammad Taiyab | D-G,
Tourism Malaysia
“In times of crises, it’s important to
continue communicating with your prospective customers to encourage them
to return. Despite the recent MH370
and MH17 incidents which saw a drop
in tourists from China, Taiwan and a
few other markets, we saw an increase
in tourists from Singapore, Thailand,
Indonesia and Brunei.”
Ms Nor Rejina Abdul Rahim |
Managing Director, Nomura Asset
Monagement Malaysia Sdn Bhd
“What you need to do is to invest in
unit trusts. Even SMEs can invest in the
money market and short-term bond
funds. Income derived from investments in unit trusts are tax deductible. It
is a good way to put excess cash away.”
“Economic communities are working
more closely together and becoming
stronger. Trade is becoming more vibrant. We are becoming a more connected society. One thing that came out
of the 2008 global financial crisis is how
quickly the G7 and G20 countries as well
as other coalitions such as BRICS worked
together. Governments are increasingly
trying to connect their populaces and
their financial systems to create stability
because it is this stability that will allow
us to have a prosperous financial future”.
panellists
Mr Mohamed Nazri Omar | CEO,
Danajamin Nasional Berhad
“You need to have a balance. There has
to be prudent asset-liability matching.
Also, you may want to consider going
regional or global. This does not only
mean opening a shop in another country
but also exporting to diversify from the
local economy.”
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