CIMB nabs Royal Bank of Scotland’s Asia Pac CRO

Malaysian bank beefs up its risk management capabilities with recruitment of RBS chief risk officer

Thomas will work at CIMB’s offices in Kuala Lumpur

Malaysian bank CIMB has appointed David Thomas, Asia-Pacific chief risk officer (CRO) at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), to work in its head office in Kuala Lumpur.

Thomas exited RBS last week but it is unclear when he will start at CIMB as the bank had not responded to Asia Risk's enquires at time of publication. While RBS completes the recruitment process for Thomas's successor, Asia-Pacific chief administrative officer, John Shelley, will assume his CRO duties. Shelley's role will be shared by two colleagues.

CIMB's recruitment of Thomas comes two months after it acquired RBS Asia-Pacific's cash equity and investment bank business for about US$140 million and while the deal included a number of staff transfers between the two banks, Thomas's exit is not directly related.

Thomas had been CRO at RBS since 2007 and in Asia since 1993, working in a variety of roles around the region for Bank of America.