KUALA LUMPUR – Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) and Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT), two of the country’s largest institutional investors, will be appointing new chief executive officers soon, people familiar with the matter tell The Vibes.
Shortlisted for the LTAT job is Boustead Holdings Bhd managing director Datuk Seri Amrin Awaluddin while Maybank Asset Management group CEO Badrul Hisyam Abu Bakar is tipped to helm KWAP, sources said.
If appointed, both men will replace Nik Amlizan Mohamed and Syed Hamadah Syed Othman at LTAT and KWAP, respectively.
Nik Amlizan and Syed Hamadah were hired for a two-year commitment under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) regime. But their contracts were not renewed after PH was ousted by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional in a February coup.
It is understood that Amrin had been offered the LTAT post once but turned it down. However, his name has resurfaced as a potential candidate due to his familiarity with LTAT-controlled Boustead.
Sources also say that Nik Amlizan still stands to be the next KWAP chief. Prior to her stint at LTAT, she was KWAP’s chief investment officer and had been earmarked as the successor to then chief Datuk Wan Kamaruzaman Wan Othman.
KWAP and LTAT, which are also government-linked investment companies, manage the retirement funds of civil servants and armed forces personnel, respectively.
KWAP, the second largest pension fund after the Employees Provident Fund, had RM36.51 billion of assets under management (AUM) as of end-2018 while LTAT had an AUM of RM9.48 billion in 2019. – The Vibes, October 13, 2020