The central bank governor won't be the last high-profile departure in Malaysia after the old regime was ousted. Next in line is the head of Kuala Lumpur's stock exchange, Tajuddin Atan.

Bursa Malaysia CEO Tajuddin Atan is likely to soon follow a string of top managers out of the door in the Asian country after the former government was toppled in a shock election in May, according to a report by Malaysia newspaper «The Star Online». Atan was head of the country's stock exchange for seven years.

He was part of a six-member royal commission set up by the previous government to probe foreign exchange losses suffered by the central bank in the late 1990s. The losses occurred during Mahatir Mohamad's first watch as prime minister.

Exchange Link Review

In a further development, separate from the likely change in management of Bursa Malaysia, a decision to link Singapore's and Malaysia's stock exchanges hang in the balance. The plan had been unveiled by the administration of former Prime Minister Najib Razor. 

The new Mahatir administration has pledged to review the project in a bid to avoid another so-called «Clob incident», Singapore-based media reported. Clob was an over-the-counter market which was not officially endorsed by the Malaysian government.

The «Clob incident» refers to a move by Mahatir banning the trading of Malaysian shares offshore in order to stem the outflow of money during the Asian financial crisis. In reality, the move froze billions of dollars in investments that belonged to some 150,000 Singaporeans.

Changes in Key Positions

The change in government has led to a string of appointments for key positions as well as departures of high-profile managers in the South-East Asian country. They include:

  • Tommy Thomas was appointed attorney general, replacing Tan Sri Apandi Ali.
  • Lim Guan Eng is the new finance minister. The move was controversial because Mahatir appointed a Chinese as finance minister in a Malay-majority country. 
  • Tan Shukri Abdul was restored to Malaysia's anti-graft agency.
  • Muhammad Ibrahim, governor of Bank Negara, resigned on Wednesday. No successor has been announced so far.