Malaysia's central bank has new chief

Malaysia's central bank has new chief

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): The head of Malaysia's largest bank was appointed yesterday as governor of the central bank, rocked by foreign exchange losses over the past two years totaling US$5.8 billion.

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) managing director Ahmad Mohamed Don was appointed governor of Bank Negara for a three-year term, Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced.

Ahmad replaces Jaffar Hussein, who stepped down last week after taking responsibility for Negara's 5.7 billion ringgit ($2.2 billion) foreign exchange trading losses in 1993 on top of the 9.3 billion ringgit ($3.6 billion) it lost in 1992.

Ahmad joined Maybank in 1982 as general manager of its treasury division. He was promoted to director five years later and became managing director and chief executive officer in 1991.

Born in 1947, Ahmad was graduated with a degree in economics and business from University College of Wales in Britain.

He takes over a central bank demoralized by the resignations of Jaffar and his senior adviser for foreign exchange trading. Anwar said earlier this week that the bank faced a top-level shakeup when the new governor was installed.