Kuala Lumpur, 28 February 2011 - Hong Leong Bank Berhad (HLB) is pleased to announce the following senior management appointments.

1) Chief Operating Officer, Global Markets: Mr Hor Kwok Wai

Mr Hor is heading Global Markets, covering Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam, where he will be building and galvanizing the Bank's regional thrust. In his capacity as Chief Operating Officer, he is principally responsible for spearheading and strategizing the Treasury business of HLB as the global economy regains its optimum capacity. He will lead the transformation of the division and maximize its foot print in the regional treasury markets where HLB currently operates. This is also in line with the regional opportunities in foreign exchange, derivatives, and money market transactions arising from the increase in intra - regional trade in Asia. In this endeavor Mr. Hor oversees the Bank's strategy in building a sustainable regional treasury business and customizing treasury products based on regional customer needs.Prior to joining HLB, Mr. Hor was the Managing Director, Head of Markets of a foreign bank. He has been in banking for over 15 years, mainly in the field of Fixed Income, Derivatives, Asset-Liability Management and Risk Management and also held various positions in foreign commercial banks. He brings with him a wealth of experience that will augur well for the transformation already underway in our Global Markets and with his talents, we are optimistic that he will bring our treasury business to greater heights.

He is a graduate in Actuarial Mathematics and Statistic from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, UK.

2) Chief Risk Officer: Mr James Chong Wai Choy

In his capacity as Chief Risk Officer, Mr. James Chong oversees the key risk areas of Credit, IT, Operational and Market Risks, including Asset Liability Management and Regulatory Compliance Departments. He also ensures governance compliance and leverages on our comprehensive risk management process to monitor, evaluate and manage risks as well as defining our Bank's risk in line with the business strategy and decision making process based on rigorous analytics.

James has over 28 years experience in the financial services industry in the Asia Pacific Region and a depth of understanding of the financial instruments ranging from the mass market retail branch banking to the more complex corporate and investment banking. He began his career as Leasing Executive with Supreme Finance (Malaysia) Berhad. He brings with him a wealth of experience that will ensure HLBB enjoys superior consumer portfolio asset quality in the market.Prior to joining the Bank, James was the Chief Risk Officer in one of the leading financial institutions in Malaysia, where he was responsible on the development and implementation of Bank Wide Risk Management comprising of all the major risk components such as Risk Strategic/Policies, Risk Organization, Risk Analytics and Risk Operations.

James Chong holds a Master of Arts (Economics - Money and Banking) from University of Manitoba in Canada.

3) Chief HR Officer: Mr Ramon Albert Chelvarajasingam

Ramon is heading the Human Resources Division at the Bank and select Human Resource functions for Hong Leong Financial Group. With his appointment, he is tasked to transform the Bank's Human Resources to support the Bank's change and transformation journey.

Prior to joining the Bank, Ramon was the Vice President of Human Resources at the group level for a Business Process Outsourcing organization servicing 28 countries in Asia and Europe. Prior to this, he had worked 11 years for a global banking group of which the last 3 years he had Asia Pacific responsibilities. He is experienced in conceptualizing and the implementation of human resource strategies, organizational work culture, organizational change and workforce development to create a strong, productive and people driven organization.

Ramon holds a Bachelor of Business Administration specializing in Human Resource Management and Psychology from the United States.

-END-Press Release - 28/02/2011