Azhar Bin Wan Ahmad

Datuk Wan Azhar bin Wan Ahmad was the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad (“CGC”) from 1997 until his retirement in December 2014. He began his career in banking as a Loans Executive of Hong Leong Bank in 1985 and left the bank as Head of Branches Operations in 1993. He then joined CGC as Head of Credit. In 1995, he was promoted to Assistant General Manager and subsequently to Chief Executive Officer in 1997. In 2000, he was appointed to the Board of Directors and assumed the role of Managing Director.

One of the highlights of his career was the transformation of CGC from a traditional credit guarantee provider into a market-driven and financially sustainable SME-support institution. He was instrumental in the setting up of Credit Bureau Malaysia (“CBM”) where he was the Chairman for six (6) years from 2008 to 2014. On the international front, he was also Chairman of the Association of Development Financial Institutions for Asia Pacific region (“ADFIAP”) from 2012 to 2014.

Upon his retirement, he was appointed as Consultant to the World Bank from 2015 to 2016, undertaking projects relating to SME financing in the Middle East.

Datuk Wan Azhar is currently the Chairman of Alliance Islamic Bank Berhad. He is also the Chairman of the Small Debt Resolution Committee (“SDRC”) at Bank Negara Malaysia.