Abrar A. Anwar is the new CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia.

Standard Chartered Bank is Malaysia’s first bank, set-up back in 1875, with global operations hub named Scope International which provides support to across 70 countries that Standard Chartered Bank operates in. While Standard Chartered has been seen launching several fintech initiatives around the global locally their activities are largely limited to their partnership with Supercharger which started out as a regional initiative.

New CEO’s typically spell out new directions for large organisations like Standard Chartered Bank. We felt it’d be a good opportunity to take a look at Abrar A. Anwar the incoming CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia whose tenure starts this 1st November 2017 to help contextualise what his new leadership might mean for Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia’s fintech directions.

Abrar A. Anwar’s Humble Beginnings

Abrar A. Anwar had humble beginnings, he received his MBA from a local institution, IBA. He then started his career as a management trainee in ANZ Grindlays Bank which was then acquired by Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh in the early 2000’s. He had an illustrious 25 years banking career in countries like Bangladesh, India and United Kingdoms. Most recently, he was the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh which under his leadership was the most profitable foreign bank.

Abrar Anwar, a Believer in Tech & Collaboration

Abrar launched two new apps earlier this year namely, “SC Mobile Bangladesh” and “Good Life”. The former being a mobile banking app and the latter being a lifestyle app which gives privileged access to over 3,000 outlets. During that very same launch commented,

 

“New customers are more tech-savvy. So, probably 10 years down the line, many people will not come to the banks”

Abrar also believes that banks are lacking in innovation over the past decades and he called for more collaboration between banks and partners like the telco industry.

Leadership Principles

During a speech at a Youth Festival in Bangladesh he expressed that he is a believer in lifelong learning and that leaders at the top brass should also spend time learning from even the youngest of their members. He also does not believe in an authoritarian leadership he feels that leadership should no longer be under the illusion that they can command and others will obey, he believes that encouragement would be a much more effective approach.

Image Credit: The Daily Star