HSBC has appointed Omar Siddiq as CEO for Malaysia, succeeding Stuart Milne, who will retire at the end of March after 40 years with the global financial group.

Siddiq will report to Surendra Rosha, co-chief executive for HSBC, Asia-Pacific. He will also join the boards of HSBC Bank Malaysia and HSBC Amanah Malaysia as an executive director, as well as a member of the Asia-Pacific executive committee.

Siddiq joins HSBC from CIMB, where he was most recently deputy CEO for Malaysia and CEO of group wholesale banking. Prior to joining CIMB, he was head of group wholesale banking at RHB Bank and was also executive director and group chief financial officer at Malaysia Airlines. He has also held roles in the investments division at Khazanah Nasional and was a member of the senior management team, focusing on the aviation and airport sectors.

“We welcome Omar into his role as the CEO for HSBC Bank Malaysia to lead us in our next phase of growth,” Rosha said. “Malaysia presents huge opportunities across some of HSBC’s key strategic focus areas – growth in ASEAN, sustainable finance and digital innovation. Omar’s extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the local market will be invaluable as we strengthen our Malaysian operations to support the group’s Asian growth ambitions.”