KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz will replace Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar as executive chairman of Malaysia’s biggest state-owned fund manager, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The board of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) was told of the change in leadership at a special meeting in Kuala Lumpur today, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Wahid, who joined the fund in 2016, has served as a government minister and chief executive officer of Malayan Banking Bhd. 

Zeti currently sits on a council that advises Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after having served as central bank governor until 2016. She was Bank Negara Malaysia’s first female governor.

Wahid joined directors at state-linked Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Petroliam Nasional Bhd who have stepped down, as well as central bank Governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim, who quit earlier this month after questions were raised about the institution’s role in a land deal related to state fund 1MDB.  

A spokesperson for PNB couldn’t be reached for comment. Star newspaper earlier reported Wahid’s resignation, citing an unnamed source.

PNB was set up by the government in 1978 to help boost the wealth of the country’s ethnic Malays, and remains heavily invested in Malaysia with assets totalling RM279.23 billion as of end 2017. Soon after taking the post in 2016, Wahid unveiled plans to boost the fund’s assets to RM350 billion by 2022.

PNB holds stakes in some of the nation’s biggest companies, including Maybank, Sime Darby Bhd and UMW Holdings Bhd. Its domestic equity investments of RM180 billion is equal to about 10 per cent of the local stock exchange’s market capitalisation, Wahid said in an interview last year. — Bloomberg

https://www.malaymail.com/s/1646947/zeti-to-be-named-chairman-of-pnb