Bandar Seri Begawan, 28 July 2020 – Baiduri Bank, Brunei’s largest conventional bank, today announced an expansion of the CEO Office organisation structure with dual Deputy Chief Executive Officer positions. The expansion comes with the appointment of Manuel Bulens to the newly created position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer - Compliance and Corporate Governance while Pengiran Azaleen PD Haji Mustapha will hold the position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer - Business Development.

According to Ti Eng Hui, Chief Executive Officer of Baiduri Bank, when speaking on the dual Deputy CEO structure, “With significant changes in the regulatory and market environment in the past few years and more anticipated changes to come, our organisational structure needs to evolve to handle the expanded scope of responsibilities.”

He further elaborated that the Bank recognises the need to bring in senior bankers with international expertise and experience in specialised banking fields. “The appointment of Manuel Bulens would not have been possible without the approval and support of the regulatory authorities.”

Pg Azaleen PD Hj Mustapha has over 26 years of banking experience in treasury, retail banking as well as branch network management. He began his banking career at HSBC Brunei holding positions in treasury, managerial roles in private banking as well as financial institutions. He joined Baiduri Bank in 2005 as Treasurer, before being promoted to the position of Head of Retail Banking & Branch Network in 2014 and Deputy Chief Executive Officer in May 2019. He is also a director of Baiduri Capital as well as a member of APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Brunei Darussalam.

Manuel Bulens has over 19 years of international banking experience on compliance, controls, risk and governance with Citibank branches in Belgium, Spain, Russia and Korea. Most recently, he was the Head of Retail Banking at Alliance Bank Malaysia from June 2018 to December 2019. He is a Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Information System Auditor and a Chartered Banker. Manuel Bulens’ appointment as Deputy Chief Executive Officer - Compliance and Corporate Governance took effect Monday, 20 July 2020.

“We are fortunate to have such incredible depth of talent and expertise within the bank and are able to provide opportunities for talented and high-performing staff with proven leadership ability to join the expanded management team. These changes will further strengthen the Group’s management team in this fast moving and complex environment. These changes are very important to pursue business growth and commercial opportunities while at the same time, strengthen compliance and corporate governance as we strive towards fulfilling the long-term interests of the Group and its stakeholders,” said Ti Eng Hui.