DBS appoints Raof Latiff as new Malaysia country head

DBS on Monday announced that it has appointed a new Malaysia country head to replace Jeffrey Ling, who will be retiring from the role.

Raof Latiff, presently group head of digital for institutional banking and group head of global transaction services product management, will take over from June 1, 2021.

Alongside his new country management responsibilities, Mr Latiff will also continue to oversee the bank's institutional banking ecosystems and strategic platform partnerships.

Lim Soon Chong will succeed Mr Latiff and has been appointed to his new role from Jan 1. This is to allow for a smooth transition ahead of Mr Latiff's move into his new role in Malaysia, said the bank in a statement.

To help with the transition, Mr Ling will stay on as a senior adviser alongside Mr Latiff to help continue the engagement with the bank's key clients in Malaysia.

Since joining DBS in 2017, Mr Latiff has been instrumental in developing and driving the digital transformation of the bank's institutional banking franchise. Prior to this, he has held several senior regional positions at global banks, including Citigroup, JPMorgan and HSBC, and brings with him over 25 years of banking experience in areas such as transaction banking, foreign exchange and treasury functions across the region.

Following Mr Latiff's move into his new role in Malaysia, Mr Lim will helm the digital, cash and trade product agendas of DBS's institutional banking group. He was previously group head of investment products and advisory for the consumer banking and wealth franchise.

Tan Su Shan, DBS group head of institutional banking, said: "The new appointments reflect our commitment to groom talent from within, and enable us to continue to provide more development opportunities to our senior team across the region. As a result of our deliberate effort to build our timber from within, a large proportion of our senior leaders have also been developed internally, including over 80 per cent of our managing directors."