Lee Lung Nien is leaving Citi Malaysia after six years at its helm to take on the wider role of chairman, South Asia, Citi Private Bank. In this exclusive interview, he shares the ups and downs of his journey.

In 2014, when Lee Lung Nien crossed the Causeway to take over as CEO of Citi Malaysia, little did he know that he would be steering the ship through one of the most exciting but turbulent periods in Malaysia’s history.

Back then, banking and financial services, driven by new technology, were beginning to see changes that today are shaking and reshaping the whole landscape. Many bankers were already shifting their focus to new ­areas of growth as well as getting a grasp of the implications of technological change on the industry.

Still, not all changes were anticipated. Many were caught flat-footed, not only by the change in government following the 2018 general election but also by a virus that has shuttered the world and killed thousands of people, sending the global economy right into the eye of an economic storm this year. The jury is still out on when the twin crises — health and economic — will end.

For Lung, while it was an exciting ride, it was also very challenging as the chief steward of the bank. Despite the bumpy ride, he managed to build on the solid foundations of Citi Malaysia, taking the bank from strength to strength.

“There have been some difficult years, trying to navigate challenges for the franchise, but I am happy that we showed about 4% growth every year. In the last few years, we have had to navigate some challenges and credit issues on certain corporates, but we have managed to be the best performing foreign bank in Malaysia,” he says.

Come Sept 1, however, Lung will leave Citi Malaysia to take on the post of chairman, South Asia, Citi Private Bank. He will be based in his homeland, Singapore.

In this exit interview, Lung looks back at his six-year tenure and shares his thoughts with Personal Wealth on what has passed and what is to come.

“For me, change has been the biggest challenge, more so in the last few years,” he says. In this context, he identifies three major events that he thinks had a great impact on the industry, one being the general election in 2018.

“It has been exciting to witness the his­toric developments. Since I have been here, there have been three governments, three central bank governors and three prime ministers. In my 30 years of corporate experience, this has been a novel change,” he says.

Another big challenge came in 2016, when Bank Negara Malaysia announced changes to the Foreign Exchange Policy guidelines. The new guidelines were to promote a deeper and more transparent onshore market to enable the hedging of risks and to curb offshore trading of ringgit NDFs (non-deliverable forwards).

To recall, the last quarter of 2016 saw strong ringgit transactions in the offshore NDF market, driving up volatility in the exchange rate and affecting the price of the local currency onshore. Malaysia has not allowed offshore trading of the ringgit since the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis.

Like most new guidelines, clients had to be briefed on the implications. Lung remembers he was on a holiday in Japan when the guidelines were announced. “Every night, I was with our team doing conference calls, trying to sort out client communication and understand what the implications were. On each call, there would be 300 to 400 clients dialling in.”

But of course, the biggest black swan of all was the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns worldwide. For Lung, the priority was ensuring the safety of the bank’s employees and minimising the disruption to its operations.

“We were already prepared for it three to four weeks before Malaysia imposed the Movement Control Order (MCO). We had all our technology and crisis management plans in place. We had started pushing our people to work from home since February,” he says.

“Initially, we had daily crisis management calls, but we slowly reduced them to twice weekly and now once a week. I reduced the crisis management team to four persons to ensure decisions were made quickly and accurately.

“We were very quick to deploy our technology logistics to employees who were already working from home even before the MCO was implemented. Now, we have about 32% of our employees back at our sites/offices around Malaysia while the rest are still working from home with minimal disruption to our business and no drop in productivity.”

Despite the challenging environment, Lung is happy with what he has achieved at the bank, in terms of the goals he set for himself and in terms of its bottom line. “My main goal when I arrived here was to make this the best Citi franchise and the best bank in Malaysia. I wanted to focus on four pillars — people, clients, governance and relationships. I believe that the objectives I started out with, using these four pillars, have been achieved,” he says.

Lung points out that Citi Malaysia has built a resilient franchise with steady growth in both its institutional clients and consumer banking. The bank has also invested in two global and regional solution centres in the country, which today serve customers, multinational corporations, financial institutions and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the world.

“On the client front, we have continued to deepen relationships, particularly with the big corporates. Over the last four years, we have participated in major deals or mandates for some of the country’s global champions and leading corporations such as Genting Bhd, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd,” he says.

“Landmark bond issues were managed, new relationships were forged and existing ones were strengthened. We have a good balance of local conglomerates and multinational corporations. It is easier to do business when you are able to pick up the phone and speak with someone familiar. People who know me know that I am very customer-focused — I enjoy meeting people and solving their problems.”

The bank recorded a total net income of RM502 million for the first quarter ended March 31. Citi Malaysia’s total capital ratio stood at 19%, slightly above the industry average.

When Lung arrived at Citi Malaysia, one of his priorities was to inculcate an inclusive culture among its workforce. He wanted to break down the walls of seniority or official titles between the different working levels. He did so by personally going down to the floors to meet and engage with the younger staff. He reckons that he has succeeded in this endeavour, partly reflected by the low employee attrition rate.

For this interview, we met at the Commune on the 35th floor of Menara Citibank. It is the bank’s open working space with a café and recreational area. Lung has played a key role in setting it up as part of Citi Malaysia’s approach to enhancing work-life balance, in sync with the kind of working environment that appeals to the younger generation.

Are there any regrets of things not done or of things that could have been done better? “I am someone who always thinks that I could have done better. Wishing that I could have done more ... Budgets and key performance indicators are moving targets. If you are halfway through the year and you are doing well, you shouldn’t lift the foot off the pedal. If you do, you will start coasting. You need to be able to continue pushing. For me, I will not stop pushing until December,” he says.

How would he want Citi Malaysia to remember him? “I want to be remembered as someone who broke down barriers. Someone who encourages employees to feel that they are a partner and that they are able to collaborate with each other. Someone who encourages a culture that is inclusive, where employees can raise issues without being fearful and have the courage and ability to speak up.”