Zeti currently sits on the Council of Eminent Persons that advises Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after having served as central bank governor until 2016.
She was Bank Negara Malaysia’s first female governor.
PNB is the investment subsidiary of Yayasan Pelaburan Bumiputra (YPB).
In a statement today, the YPB and PNB boards welcomed the appointment of Zeti and expressed confidence that given her longstanding career and vast experience, she will continue to provide strong leadership to the PNB group in pursuing its founding mandate to enhance corporate wealth for the benefit of Malaysians.
The statement said the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc) had announced that Mahathir had assumed the position of chairman of YPB with effect from June 28.
Pursuant to the appointment, the composition of YPB’s board of trustees had been restructured to comprise Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali (appointed also as YPB alternate chairman), Zeti and former auditor-general Ambrin Buang.
The press release said PNB’s board of directors took the opportunity to thank Wahid for his invaluable contribution, leadership and dedicated service as the group chairman of PNB since his appointment in August 2016.
It said Wahid had set a roadmap for PNB to achieve three broad mandate deliverables — delivering enhanced sustainable returns for PNB’s portfolio, increasing Bumiputera economic wealth and participation, and utilising part of PNB’s gains for socially impactful initiatives.
The statement said PNB’s board also announced that Awang Adek Hussin would be retiring as director of PNB and chairman of PNB Research Institute Sdn Bhd, effective June 30.
Bloomberg reported that Wahid joins directors at state-linked Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Petroliam Nasional Bhd, who have stepped down, as well as central bank Governor Muhammad Ibrahim, who quit earlier this month after questions were raised about the institution’s role in a land deal related to state fund 1MDB.
PNB was set up by the government in 1978 to help boost the wealth of the country’s ethnic Malays, and remains heavily invested in Malaysia with assets totalling RM279.23 billion as of end 2017.
Soon after taking the post in 2016, Wahid unveiled plans to boost the fund’s assets to RM350 billion by 2022.
PNB holds stakes in some of the nation’s biggest companies, including Maybank, Sime Darby Bhd and UMW Holdings Bhd.
Its domestic equity investments of RM180 billion is equal to about 10% of the local stock exchange’s market capitalisation, Wahid said in an interview last year.