Omar, the head of CIMB Group’s wholesale banking division and deputy chief executive officer of CIMB’s Malaysia business, will join the UK lender after serving a garden leave period, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

The first Malaysian to run the local HSBC unit, Omar will replace the bank’s current Malaysia CEO, Stuart Milne, who is retiring, one of them said.

Omar has been with Malaysia’s third-biggest bank for more than three years, following stints at RHB Bank Bhd, Malaysia Airlines Bhd and Khazanah Nasional Bhd, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Representatives for CIMB, HSBC and Omar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

HSBC’s presence in Malaysia dates back to 1884 when it set up its office in Penang, according to its website. The unit operates more than 60 branches and employs more than 4,000 people in the country.

The unit has the distinction of being the first to be given a licence to operate a takaful, or Islamic insurance business, and the first locally incorporated foreign bank to be awarded an Islamic banking subsidiary licence in Malaysia, its website shows.