Kuala Lumpur, 20 October 2009

Hong Leong Bank Berhad is pleased to announce the appointment of James Mitchell (Qais Bin Abdullah) as Chief Information Officer on October 1, 2009.

James, an IT Strategist & Program Manager (strategic & global projects), has more than 16 years of industry experience in project management,application development, architecture and strategy of which 12 years are with the banking & finance sector. He is familiar with private and consumerbanking applications and has been extensively involved in banking platform strategy and implementation. Prior to joining the Bank he was the Head ofApplication Development / Deputy Head IT at Bank Julius Baer in Singapore. Prior to that, James spent 6 years at Credit Suisse in Zurich and Singapore asan IT Strategist and Program Manager.

James holds a Bachelor of Informatics (B.Inf) from Griffith University as well as a Bachelor of Information Technology Honours (B.InfTech Hons) degree fromthe University of Queensland , Australia . He is a certified Project Manager (Level B) accredited by the International Project Management Association (Zurich , Switzerland ).

James is also an avid supporter of the Malaysian motorsports industry, having taken part in both national and international level motor racing events suchas the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race and the Dubai 24 Hours.

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Press Release - 20/10/2009