No eye see

BT: TAN Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz is not resigning from her role as governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said yesterday, quashing rumours. Zeti's recent resignation from the board of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the government's investment arm, had some quarters speculating as to whether it could be a precursor to her quitting Bank Negara. "No, no such thing," Nor Mohamed told reporters, when asked for comment. Khazanah had said in a statement last week that Zeti, who was appointed to its board on July 2000, had resigned, effective April 21. Bank Negara later explained that she had resigned to avoid any potential conflict of interest as Khazanah was becoming more active in its investments in financial institutions in Malaysia and abroad.

MyTake:

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Briefly on Khazanah

Khazanah which is owned by MOF(Inc) has more than 50 companies valued in excess of USD25b in various sectors. Its local investments include CIMB, RHB, Proton, PLUS, MAS, Malaysia Airports, Telekom, TNB, Time, TimedotCom and the UEM Group. Foreign investment is still small but assets investment is set to rise from the existing 12% level. Recently, it has been aggressively buying into overseas companies and so far most of the recent purchases by Telekom/CIMB are EXPENSIVE while the payback period is long and unclear. There are looming questions why Khazanah is venturing into politically unstable markets and why it should be paying for an arm and a leg in a "buyers" market we are currently facing.

Briefly on Zeti

Zeti joined BNM in 1985 and was promoted as an Acting Governor in 1998 after the 5th Governor and his assistant, Ahmad Don and Fong Weng Phak, resign a day after Bank Negara announced that the country is officially in recession following 2 successive contractions in gross domestic product in the 1st and 2nd Q of 1998- by -2.8% in 1Q and -6.8% in 2Q. The resignations also followed rumour that a rift between the bankers and Mahathir over economic policies. Zeti became the 7th governor in 2000. So far, the longest serving governor is Jaffar Bin Hussien "forex player" (working together with Top Cat) who served for almost 9 years. Some of Zeti's credentials include Grade A governor for 5 years in a row since 2002 by Global Financial Magazine. In the same assesment, Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was graded a "C" grade for his "feeble" response to the subprime mortgage meltdown. Zeti is highly regarded as the prime mover for Malaysia's success in international islamic banking finances. All in all, BNM is highly respected locally and globally with Zeti at the helm.

Although Khazanah gives "avoiding potential conflict of interest' as the reason for Zeti's resignation, I believe Zeti resigns from Khazanah partly due to non agreement on investment strategies/timing and pricing of investments/policies/management style. (...maybe the disagreement also includes the recent pay hike of GLC's CEOs? hehe). Who in their right frame of mind is willing to gamble billions of hard earned ringgit on investment in politically unstable countries? High risk high gain? Did you not smell a rat, Top Cat? (pun intended). Honestly, will YOU Badawi, Top Cat and Azman Mokthar invest in these countries if the monies are yours and not the rakyat's?

* Remember this shameless racist woman Hamidah Osman(BN:Sg Rapat Assemblyman). A real snake.

* Bill Gates retires from Microsoft yesterday and thrusting Steve Ballmer CEO into the limelight.

* NZ's economy contracted 0.3% in 1Q 2008 and is on the brink of first recession in 10 years. Benchmark interest rate is 8.25% and expecting to cut interest rate soon. The trade deficit for May is USD148m. Time to sell your NZ dollars?

* Japanese gasoline could increase by 8-10 yen per litre to 180 yen per litre in July.(or RM5.50)