The CEO of Malaysia’s $193 billion Employees Provident Fund, which handles retirement savings for private-sector citizens, is now the managing director of the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
Shahril Ridza Ridzuan will start his new role heading the wealth fund, the RM157.2 billion ($38.5 billion) Khazanah Nasional, on August 20. The shift follows a change of leadership for the nation, as new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was a critic of the wealth fund.
Khazanah also named Mahathir as its chairman, and added four other directors, which includes Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azman Ali.
These moves come after Azman Mokhtar, the fund’s former managing director, and its entire nine-member board offered their resignations last month—the firm’s largest shake-up since Malaysia’s new government took control in May.
Mahathir constantly criticized the sovereign wealth fund’s objective focus as well as the “overpayment” of its executives, the Straits Times reports. Mahathir was the fund’s first chairman in 1994. The news publication credits him as Khazanah’s creator.
It is not known if every resignation letter has been accepted, nor if any members will keep their positions.
Tags: Khazanah Nasional, Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia, Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, Sovereign Wealth Fund