The conservative banker

MAYBANK'S group president and CEO, Abdul Farid Alias, does not come across as your typical boss of a big bank. The 49-year-old's boyish demeanour - further reinforced by a backpack slung over his shoulder as he walks into the room at The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore for this interview - signals an easy manner.

Heading Malaysia's biggest bank (and the fourth largest in Asean) cannot be easy; still Mr Farid is earnest and relaxed, and his comments about his approach to banking do surprise somewhat.

He will tell you that Maybank is a conservative institution and although he's spent more than half of his working life as an investment banker, he is, in his own words, "very conservative".