Malaysia Economic Outlook and Post-Budget 2023

Keynote Address:

YBhg. Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican

Treasury Secretary General of Treasury

Ministry of Finance Malaysia

Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican has just been appointed the Treasury Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance. Prior to his appointment, he was the Deputy Secretary General of Treasury (Policy) and the Director at the National Budget Office in the Ministry of Finance. Prior to the Ministry of Finance, Johan was the Deputy Director General (Human Capital) at the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) under the Prime Minister's Office in 2016. Johan was the Chief Executive Officer of Talent Corporation Malaysia from its inception in January 2011 until 2016. 

Johan was the Chief Executive Officer of Talent Corporation Malaysia from its inception in January 2011 until 2016. He has also served as Principal Private Secretary to the Minister in the Ministry of Finance and subsequently, in the Economic Planning Unit (EPU). Before serving the Government, Johan worked in the private sector for nine years in corporate finance and accounting roles at MRCB, Sime Darby and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Johan trained as a Chartered Accountant, a member of the   Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales since 1998. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Mark Arthun

Chairman, British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (BMCC)

Managing Director & Site Leader

Smith & Nephew Operations Sdn Bhd

Mark Arthun is the Managing Director & Site Leader for Smith+Nephew Operations Sdn Bhd. He oversees the manufacturing of orthopaedic implants at Smith+Nephew's manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia – a new greenfield facility with an investment of over $100M USD and a target to hire up to 800 Malaysians. 

With a career spanning both the aerospace and medical device industries, Mark is a global operations leader with extensive experience in Operations and Operational Excellence. Before joining Smith+Nephew, Mark held leadership positions at Abbott, Alere, and Boeing. 

In addition to Mark's role at Smith+Nephew, he is the Chair of the Board at the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce and a Management Council member at the Penang Skills Development Center. 

Mark is from Montana in the United States and holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Mark has relocated from the United States to Penang with his wife, Jocelyn. 

A lover of nature, Mark has always led with the environment in mind. In his role at Smith+Nephew he has helped to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill and is targeting to achieve both 100% renewable electricity and a LEED Silver certification from the US Green Building Council by the end of the year 2022.

Datuk Zainal Amanshah

Chairman

CCI France Malaysia (CCIFM)

Datuk Zainal was most recently a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of the TIME dotCom Berhad and stepped down from the Board on 28 November 2022 to join the management team on 1 December 2022. He was also most recently the Vice President, of Malaysia and SEA Emerging Markets and the Vice President of Key Accounts Management (Asia) at AECOM. 

With more than 26 years of experience in the private sector and 8 years in Government, Datuk Zainal has held several positions in multinationals, Malaysian companies, and start-ups. He was the Chief Executive Officer of InvestKL Corporation ("InvestKL"), a Government Investment Promotion Agency under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) for 8 years.

Prior to InvestKL, Datuk Zainal was the Group Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of REDtone Digital Berhad (formerly known as REDtone International Berhad) ("REDtone"), a Malaysian public listed telecommunications provider and brought it to IPO in 2004. Prior to joining REDtone, he worked for several local and multinational companies including Unisys (M) Sdn Bhd, NCR Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Solsis Sdn Bhd and Xylog Group and Lotus Software Sdn Bhd. Datuk Zainal holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Kent, United Kingdom.

Datuk Zainal is also the Honorary Chairman of the Malaysian French Chamber of Commerce & Industry/ CCI France Malaysia.

Amarjeet Singh

EY Asean Tax Leader; Partner

Ernst & Young Tax Consultants Sdn Bhd

Amarjeet is EY Asean Tax Leader. He has more than 20 years of professional experience in taxation, specializing in tax structuring and incentives as well as group reorganizations and IPOs.

Amarjeet has served clients across a wide range of sectors, including some of Malaysia's largest conglomerates and government-linked corporations. He has also been involved in some of the country's largest mergers and group reorganizations, including investment structuring for the public utilities, plantation, property, leisure, tourism and automotive sectors.

His vast incentive experience includes global incentive benchmarking and feasibility studies, multijurisdictional studies on the economic benefits of treasury centre incentives and assisting multinationals in negotiating and securing special incentive packages in Malaysia.

Anthony Lo

Head of Territory for Malaysia & Chief Executive Officer

BNP Paribas Malaysia Berhad

Anthony Lo is the Head of Territory for Malaysia and Chief Executive Officer for BNP Paribas Malaysia Berhad.

He has more than 20 years of experience in banking and finance. Prior to his current appointment, he was Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking Coverage for BNP Paribas in Malaysia. He joined BNP Paribas Malaysia in 2011 and has been instrumental in the growth of the franchise.

Before joining BNP Paribas, Anthony was Executive Director at ING Corporate Advisory Malaysia Sdn Bhd and also worked at Arthur Andersen.

He graduated from the University of Malaya and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Kiranjit Singh

ASEAN Regional Head

Ipsos Strategy3

Kiran leads Ipsos Strategy3 in Southeast Asia. Ipsos Strategy3, the advisory arm of Ipsos, assists organisations to build, grow and compete

by exploring markets, understanding consumers, building brands, and developing new products.

Kiran has over 20 years of experience in managing and developing a diverse range of businesses, especially in the manufacturing, industrial & services sectors. His experiences have been broad, with stints in Europe, the USA, and across Asia.

He has advised the senior management team of numerous clients (MNCs, SMEs, government agencies, and GLCs) in making strategic decisions for growth. He also advised many companies, governments and commercial entities on various aspects of the digital economy.

Kiranjit has a deep appreciation of business issues and growth opportunities in the SEA region.

Wong Chow Yang 

Partner 

Ernst & Young Tax Consultants Sdn Bhd

Wong Chow Yang is a Partner at Ernst & Young Tax Consultants Sdn Bhd. He began his career in 1991 with a leading tax practice of an international accounting firm. During his 10 years with the firm, Chow Yang managed a diversified portfolio of tax compliance and advisory projects for both multinationals and Malaysian companies. 

Chow Yang's tax consulting experience extends to cross-border investments, mergers, acquisitions, privatizations, group restructurings and transfer pricing matters. He was also a key member in the development of the financial markets team within the tax practice. He joined the EY tax practice in 2015 adding a wealth of diverse tax knowledge and experience to help clients navigate through complex corporate tax issues and address tax risks and inefficiencies across a broad range of industries including financial services, manufacturing, retail & distribution, property development & construction, infrastructure, technology services, healthcare services and hospitality/hotels.

Chow Yang is also a regular speaker at seminars and workshops and has authored several articles for established journals and publications.