BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Brunei’s largest financial institution, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), announced on Monday that Hjh Noraini Hj Sulaiman will replace Mubashar Khokhar as CEO and acting managing director from December 1.
Hjh Noraini, currently the deputy managing director of BIBD, is the first woman to occupy the role since the bank’s creation in 2005.
She will take over from Khokhar, who has been on secondment from the Dubai-based private equity firm, Fajr Capital, since 2015.
Fajr acquired a 29 percent stake in BIBD back in 2010, but sold its shares to the Brunei Investment Agency in January last year, effectively making the bank wholly Bruneian-owned.
Fajr played a key role in increasing the bank’s domestic market share to 62 percent and doubling its net income, and also oversaw BIBD’s expansion into Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
In 2020, BIBD’s total assets amounted to $9.71 billion.
The Brunei government is the majority shareholder in BIBD, through stakes owned by BIA and the Ministry of Finance and Economy, while other shareholders include the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Foundation and approximately 6,000 individual Bruneian investors.