Name:
Position:
Company:
Based:
Age:
Nationality:

Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today?
In early 2006, I was approached by Cagamas to join as president and CEO of the company. Having been in the financial services sector for the past 25 years, in the areas of banking, insurance and fund management, I was very sure that with my experience I could add value to the company, so I took the job.

What does your role involve?
As the president/CEO, my role is to chart the strategic direction of the company and motivate my team to execute the strategies to achieve our set goals.

What is your greatest achievement to date?
I feel my greatest achievement is providing the leadership to bring change to Cagamas to face new challenges as we position ourselves to move on to a new phase of development.

Which of your products/services deliver the best results?
In terms of pricing, all Cagamas products are priced competitively, as the company is able to source competitive funding from the capital market.

In terms of the volume of purchases, currently the product or scheme to purchase Islamic hire purchase (IHP) debts originated by Islamic banking institutions (IBIs) on with recourse basis constitutes the largest volume, with about 55% of the company’s total purchases in the first half of the year (25% in 2005).

What are the strengths of your business?
Our strengths include:

Name one thing you would like to see change in the world of Islamic finance
I would like to see the Islamic finance industry growing to further heights with the convergence of opinions from Shariah scholars, which will result in the promotion of product innovation in Islamic finance to be on a par with conventional finance.

Cagamas, the National Mortgage Corporation, was established in 1986 to promote the secondary mortgage market in Malaysia. Its corporate mission is to provide financial products that would make housing loans more accessible and affordable to Malaysians, particularly the lower income group. It borrows money by issuing debt securities and uses the funds to finance the purchase of housing loans from financial institutions, selected corporations and the Government. The provision of liquidity at a reasonable cost to the primary lenders of housing loans encourages further financing of houses at an affordable cost.

Besides housing loans, the company’s other products include industrial property loans, hire purchase and leasing debts (conventional and Islamic), and credit card receivables.