Ranjit Ajit named new SC chairman as Zarinah Retires

Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, who has been chairman of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) since 2006, will retire when her term is completed on March 31 this year. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, has appointed Datuk Ranjit Ajit Singh to succeed Zarinah as SC chairman and Datuk Dr Nik Ramlah Mahmood as deputy chief executive, according to a statement by SC. Both currently serve as SC managing directors, and their new appointments take effect from April 1, 2012. Zarinah has played a key role in strengthening and developing the Malaysian capital market over the past ten years, establishing a robust regulatory and governance framework which has contributed to the growth of the market, and investing resources in building regulatory capacity. Ranjit is a highly experienced regulator with over 20 years' experience in finance and securities regulation. A financial economist and accountant, Ranjit has served the SC since 1994 in a variety of areas including the supervision and oversight of the market, strategy and risk management, financial policy and economics. He is chairman of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) group on secondary markets, has chaired an expert group on capital markets for a Financial Stability Board taskforce, and has served as a member of the International Monetary Fund's expert group on governance of public sector agencies. Nik Ramlah is trained in law and has served the SC for over 18 years covering legal and regulatory reform, product and market development, corporate governance, Islamic capital markets, investor education and enforcement. She also sits on the board of the Securities Industry Development Corporation, the SC's training and education arm. She is a core member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance, and is a member of the Technical Committee of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB).