The Leadership Achievement Award for Best CEO is conferred every three years to ensure that heads of banks in each country can be reviewed over a meaningful period of time. Bank CEOs are assessed based on a rigorous and transparent set of evaluation criteria and the winner in each country is selected by an international council of advisors from among a shortlist of peers in the country.

The Council of advisors of The Asian Banker honoured the outstanding leadership of Raymond Sia Say Guan, CEO and board director of Canadia bank for successfully bolstering Canadia Bank to be a dominant player in the Cambodian financial service industry. In the past three years, the bank has focused on and reinforced its leading position in the SME and consumer business segments, critical sectors to the emerging economy of Cambodia, in addition to its dominance in the corporate sector.

As at December 2021, the bank’s asset portfolio comprises 60% corporate, 21% consumer and 19% small and medium enterprise (SME) loans. He has also set the goal of increasing SME and consumer segment contribution over the next three years to 25% each. 

Under his leadership, Canadia Bank’s balance sheet remains strong with total asset growth of over 8% in 2021. The bank’s net profit also rebounded and grew by 4.55% to reach $127.97 million in 2021.

Sia had to re-mobilise the team to ensure customer service and experience was not compromised.       

The past two years has been challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which in the initial stages saw the imposition of lockdown and restriction on the number of staff and temporary closure of branches.

He also spared no efforts in providing loan repayment deferrals. It was not easy to strike the balance between customers’ requests while also ensuring the protection of bank’s financial position.

Nevertheless, it was good to note the bank has since accommodated most customers’ requests and also worked with some of them to restructure their loans without compromising on the balance sheet of the bank.

Sia strongly believes that “people” is the most important asset of any organisation, that digital transformation is not only about meeting external customer needs but reskilling employees for future technology and competencies. He led the bank to place equal emphasis on ensuring “internal customers” such as staff are well trained based on the latest technology trends seen in the region and globally.

In addition, he works closely with the human resources, learning and development team to review the bank’s training curriculums and training plans are geared to creating competencies for the future.

For details about evaluation criteria and council of advisors of the Leadership Achievement Award programme, visit https://www.asianbankerawards.com/leadership/

To view the photo gallery of the Leadership Achievement Award ceremony, visit https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10160166616759804&type=3