Nazir Razak, Chairman of CIMB Group will be awarded the Asia House Asian Business Leaders Award for 2015 later in the year.

Mr Razak was selected as the recipient of this year’s Award in recognition of his achievements over the course of his 26-year tenure at CIMB Group, a leading ASEAN universal bank, headquartered in Malaysia.

Mr Razak said: “It is an honour and a privilege to have been accorded an award of such esteem. This is recognition for the thousands of people who worked with me at CIMB to build a truly ASEAN financial powerhouse.

"I hope this award brings more attention to the potential of ASEAN as a place to do business and the opportunity to create value by pooling people and resources from various ASEAN countries".

CIMB Group operates in the high growth economies of the ASEAN region. Malaysia took over the rotating chair of ASEAN on January 1 this year.

Mr Razak spearheaded the CIMB Group’s transformation from a boutique Malaysian investment bank to Malaysia’s second-largest financial services group, the fifth largest universal bank in ASEAN, the largest Asia Pacific-based investment bank, and one of the world’s largest Islamic banks.

Not only has the 48-year-old significantly developed Malaysia’s banking and capital markets, but he has created a world-leading Islamic bank – the second-largest Islamic bank in Malaysia – with a 15 per cent market share that offers Shariah-compliant financial solutions.

In 2007, guided by Mr Razak, CIMB Group set up CIMB Foundation, the corporate responsibility and philanthropic platform of CIMB Group. The Foundation brings benefits to communities in the region served by CIMB. CIMB Group has donated more than RM100 million (US$28 million) to the Foundation as seed funding.

Sir John Boyd, Chairman of Asia House, said: “We are delighted to acknowledge the success and good works of Nazir Razak who has, among other things, underlined the benefits of cooperation and partnership across ASEAN through his support of learning, independent research and charitable works, as well as in his ambitious business strategy, demonstrating how a commercially successful ASEAN-wide initiative can bring people together for the common good.”

Asia House is a centre of expertise on Asia and the leading pan-Asian organisation in the UK.

Asia House presents this annual award to those individuals who exemplify the concept of the ‘Servant Leader’. The award highlights the links between economic success, professional excellence accompanied by moral leadership and service to society.

Previous recipients of the Asia House Asian Business Leaders Award include Ho Ching, Executive Director and CEO of Temasek: Jack Ma, Chairman and Founder of Alibaba.com; Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group; Lubna Olayan, Chief Executive of Olayan Financing Company; and Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro.

The gala event will be held at Westminster’s Banqueting House on Tuesday, 13 October.