Nor Azzam Bin Abdul Jalil, a Malaysian male aged 58, has been a career banker for nearly 30 years of his working life until deciding to leave the industry in 2017 to join the family business. As executive Director. Currently he is also an Independent Non- Executive Chairman of a Public Listed company and independent director for another PLC of which he the Chairman of the Nominating and Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit and Risk Management Committee of the 3rd company.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance) from George Washington University, United States of America in 1987. During his university days, he was active in several Malaysian student groups serving on committees.
Upon his graduation in 1987, he was employed as an Executive Trainee by Bank of Commerce (M) Berhad and joined the treasury department as a corporate dealer. In 1991 upon the merger with United Asian Bank and Bank of Commerce Bhd, he was promoted to Assistant Vice President responsible for managing the bank!s Nostro accounts and also FX trader. During the time as a FX dealer he also attended many courses including Bank Negara Malaysia FX course and won the best dealer award in the stimulated FX game. In 1993, he moved to the corporate banking department as a Credit Officer and was promoted to Head of Japanese Desk in 1995. Here he led a team of 8 credit officers handling more than 400 Japanese companies in Malaysia. In 1999, after the merger of Bank of Commerce (M) Berhad and Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad to Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Berhad, he was re-designated as Business Center Manager where he was responsible to set-up and managed a business center in Klang Valley. Here he led a team of 25 executives managing 365 business customers of the bank of more than RM 3 billion in loan exposure.
In 2000, he was seconded to Tokyo, Japan branch of Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Berhad as General Manager to manage the day-to-day operations of the branch. He successfully restarted the branch which was planned to be closed, and return its operations to the black in 6 months and profitable in a year. There he had a team of 15 staff of which 14 were Japanese nationals. He also handled all the relationships with the regulators including Bank Of Japan and Financial Services Authority of Japan and with the major Japanese banks there like Sanwa Bank and Sumitomo Bank, and other foreign banks like Citibank, BNP, Credit Suisse, Barclays, etc.
He returned to Malaysia in January 2005 to be Chief Executive Officer of Commerce Tijari Bank Berhad and successfully launched the bank in April 2005. He led and managed the Islamic banking activities of the Commerce Group, including commercial banking, investment banking, treasury and asset management, and insurance, and strategised and implemented the overall business plan for Islamic banking for the group.
With the merger of BCB and Southern Bank under the CIMB Group in 2006, he was appointed Regional Director IV, responsible for the South Selangor and Negeri Sembilan 32 consumer branches and 3 business centers with a staff strength about 1,000. He was subsequently promoted to Senior Vice President/Regional Director I, responsible for the 40 Kuala Lumpur branches in 2010 with a staff strength of 1,300. As a regional director he strategized and implemented the retail banking and SME banking business plans, driving banking products and services, whilst managing the branch operations and manpower under the respective regions. From the time he was made a Regional Director in 2006, he also served on the credit risk committee and disciplinary committee (DC) for CIMB, of which he was Chairmen of DC from 2013 to 2015, for the banking group. During this period too he won several sales awards including top regional director in 2009, 2011 and 2013, and other product awards.
In 2015 he was promoted to Senior Managing Director and appointed as Acting Head of Consumer Distribution Division overseeing more than 7,500 staff and responsible for the overall consumer distribution operations in Malaysia for the CIMB Group managing the services to more than 8 million retail customers and 300,000 business customers thru 293 branches of the bank. At the same time in 2015 he was appointed as CEO of CIMB Foundation, spearheading the corporate responsibilities and philanthropic platform for the CIMB Group with an annual budget of RM 20 million to drive all programs and initiatives in key focus areas including sports, education, community development, cultural and heritage, socio economic and environmental matters. He also sat on the board of CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd as a representative of the consumer group in this partnership. During his long tenure with the CIMB Group and Commerce Group, he attended several courses including INSEAD Leadership course in Singapore and China, Islamic Banking, Omega credit course, marketing course by Steven Covey and Ron Kaufman, S&P Ratings methodology, Barclays Capital markets in London and Rome, among many others. In 2014 he also attended talks with the Principal Group on asset management in Ohio USA.
In 2016 he left the CIMB Group and he joined Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Berhad as Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Overall he led and drove the overall strategic direction of KFHM!s business units, i.e. the Treasury, Corporate Banking and Retail banking divisions, supported the overall business growth and market leadership aspirations, increased the overall revenue, profitability and market share of KFH!s portfolio. He worked with the CEO of KFHM and other stakeholders (internal and external) to present a compelling value proposition in support of the bank!s aspirations. He was also tasked to develop with the CEO the appropriate innovation, product and marketing strategies that support the overall objectives set for KFHM!s business units. He needed to strategised and drove the deposit, financing, investment and asset management sales, enhancing customer service for more than 100,000 Retail and Corporate customers across Malaysia through the 15 branches and head office level. Overall he supported the CEO in the overall management of KFHM in all areas especially business, risk, compliance, governance, and operations.
In 2017, he left Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Berhad to join his family business, Voxel Imaging Sdn Bhd, a visual effects and production company for film and television as well as end-to-end production for corporate and commercial clients. He currently manages the financial and administrative aspects of these companies. He managed to raise a total of RM 2.5 million in investments for the feature movie the company is producing. The family business employs up to 15 staff full and on contract and also active in providing internships to various universities undergraduates in their final year, universities including UiTM, MMU, MSU, KDU, UPSI and community colleges. He also arranged for the company’s investing into new technology in motion capture which will make their entity as one of the few studios in Malaysia having that tech. In 2024, he co-founded and setup Voxel Resonance Films Sdn Bhd, a film investment and production company, planning to raise RM30 million to produce and invest in local and international content.
In December 2017 he was appointed to be a director of then company called Revenue Harvest Sdn Bhd, and officially became the Independent Non-Executive Chairman of Revenue Group Berhad in July 2018 when the company went public on the ACE Board. RGB is a cashless payment solutions provider in Malaysia offering a wide range of technology-led multi-channel payment solutions to the financial and retail markets. Their products and services can be divided into 3 segments, i.e. deployment of EDC terminals, electronic transaction processing and solutions and services related to payments structure. He was reappointed as Executive Chairman of RGB in January 2023 and subsequently resigned in April 2023 as he wanted to focus more on his family business.
In August 2019 he was appointed to be director of Ocean Vantage Holdings Berhad and officially became the Independent Non-Executive Chairman of OVH Bhd when it went public on the ACE board in July 2020. OVH is an investment holding company of which through its subsidiaries is principally involved in EPC and project management, supply of manpower, supply of materials, tools and equipment and provision of drilling rig charter services, all for the oil and gas industry both upstream and downstream activities.
In August 2020, he was appointed to be an independent Director of Nestcon Berhad, and also chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees and member of the Audit and Risk Management Committee. Nestcon Bhd is an investment holding company involved in the construction services for building and civil engineering and infrastructure projects. The IPO was oversubscribed by 57 times and was successfully listed on the ACE market on June 29 2021.
In November 2021 he was appointed to the board of Infoline Tec Group Bhd of which he is also made Non- Executive Independent Chairman. Infoline Tec Group Bhd is principally an investment holding company principally involved in provision of IT infrastructure and cybersecurity solutions and related IT services, and currently seeking listing on the ACE market. In June 2023 he retired from this chairmanship not seeking for re-election as he wanted to focus more on his family business.
Since 2017 he has attended several courses including the Mandatory Accreditation Program by Iclif, Quantum Leap by T. Harv Ekar Development Program, Advocacy Program on Corporate Governance by Bursa Malaysia, Anti-Bribery, Corruption and Money Laundering by Tay and Partners, Post-Listing Obligations under listing requirements by Amerits Corporate Sdn Bhd, and online forums with the Minister of Finance on the economy and budget, and various courses and talks on Anti-Money Laundering, Fraud, Corporate Disclosures, Risk Management and most recently on Sustainability Agenda and responsibilities.