Senior Advisor

SENIOR ADVISOR - DATUK LIM HONG TAT

Areca has appointed Datuk Lim Hong Tat as Senior Advisor for the Company. Based on Datuk Lim Hong Tat’s vast working experience, he is responsible for providing advice to the Board of Directors on all matters pertaining to policies, practices, management & operations of the Company; and also provide guidance to the Management so as to synchronise all the Company’s activities to be in line with the directions set by the Board.   

Datuk Lim Hong Tat is a former banker with 37 years of experience including CEO of Maybank Philippines, Head of International Banking, Head of Consumer Banking, CEO of Maybank Singapore and most recently as Group CEO, Community Financial Services, Maybank. In his previous role as Group CEO, Community Financial Services, he was solely responsible for driving and implementing Maybank’s community banking strategy across all geographies. His regional expertise includes branch banking, consumer lending, small-medium enterprises and business banking, sales and distribution, wealth management, payments, virtual banking, product innovation and customer segmentation. As Country Head Singapore, he was responsible for the full suite of financial products and services – commercial banking, global banking, investment banking, and rolling out the insurance business. Datuk Lim also served as a Member of the Visa Client Council for Asia Pacific, Member of the Board of the European Financial Management Association (EFMA), Associate Member of International Academy of Retail Banking, Council Member of Association of Banks in Singapore and a director of Maybank Philippines Inc., Maybank Kim Eng Holdings Ltd, Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte. Ltd., Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd. and Mutiara Mortgage & Credit Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ministry of Housing, Sarawak. Currently, Datuk Lim is serving on the board of Maybank Philippines, and is also a Senior Advisor for Creador. He is also a member of the Board of Commissioners of PT Maybank Indonesia.

Datuk Lim graduated from University Malaya in 1981 with a Bachelors in Economics (Business Administration), and completed his Advance Management Programme (AMP) at Harvard Business School. 

Datuk Lim was the first Malaysian to be awarded the Retail Banker of the Year in 2014 for Asia Pacific/Middle East Regions by Asian Banker and won the Asian Banker of the Year in 2017 by Fortune Time Singapore. He also won the CEPI (Cards & Electronic Payments International) Asia Leadership Award twice - the Individual Award for year 2017 and 2018.