Multi-geography CFO — BFSI (primary anchor Malaysia)

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Banking, Financial Services & Insurance on a senior CFO leadership mandate anchored in Malaysia.

This is a country CEO / MD-class mandate with board- and headquarters-facing accountability for strategy execution, regulatory relationships, and brand in-market.

Expect to partner closely with technology and risk leaders — the enterprise strategy is increasingly inseparable from data and resilience.

Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Managing credit risk leadership as NPAs cycle and credit costs rise in an increasingly unsecured lending environment
• Geographic spine: Primary hub Malaysia with reporting lines into global / regional matrix partners.
• Organisation stage: Portfolio under review: non-core assets, JVs, and country footprints are actively questioned each planning cycle.
• Stakeholders: Stakeholders span board or regional executive committee, global functional heads, JV partners, and strategic account buyers.
• Secondary lens: Leading the transition from branch-centric to digital-first customer acquisition and service models

The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Cost of complexity: Quantify overhead from legal entities, intercompany flows, and manual reconciliations — simplify where safe.
2. Revenue assurance: Partner with sales operations on billing, recognition, and leakage — especially in long-cycle contracts.
3. Capex governance: Move from annual budget theatre to rolling, scenario-based capital decisions tied to strategy.
4. Insurance & risk transfer: Review programme design with risk — align retentions and coverage to real loss patterns.
5. Audit readiness: Close repeat findings permanently; build first-line ownership in business units, not only finance remediation.
6. Board reporting: Tighten packs — fewer pages, clearer bridges from strategy to financial outcomes.

Responsibilities (representative)

• Own external reporting narrative, lender covenants, and rating / investor conversations as delegated.
• Lead FP&A, controllership, tax, and treasury with clear accountability and talent depth.
• Partner with business units on pricing, deal economics, and post-merger synergy realisation.
• Ensure internal controls and audit findings are remediated with sustainable fixes.
• Challenge growth plans that lack capital discipline or credible downside cases.

Leadership profile

• Finance leadership: Controllership-quality foundations plus credible FP&A and external stakeholder experience.
• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Geographic muscle: Deep experience leading in or from Malaysia with credible local stakeholder judgment.

Team & culture

Silos are real. Your job is to design forums and incentives so product, technology, risk, and commercial leaders solve problems together instead of optimising local KPIs.

Success measures (examples)

• Value creation: EBITDA / cash trajectory vs. owner or board case — especially under stress scenarios.
• Execution: On-time delivery of named transformation milestones; reduction in repeat incidents or audit findings.
• Leadership: External hires and internal promotions that stick; reduction in key-person concentration.
• Innovation: Launched offers or capabilities that move the needle on differentiation, not pilots that stall.

First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Map cash, covenant, and customer concentration risks before announcing initiatives.
• Days 30–60: Align owners and board on a 12-month value story — financial and non-financial.
• Days 60–90: Launch two quick operational fixes that build credibility with frontline managers.
• Deep-dive on talent — who is load-bearing, who is blocking, where external hire is mandatory.
• Socialise a simple KPI tree so every function sees how their metrics roll up.

Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: Executive committee, functional peers, shared services leads, and programme PMOs.
• External: Key suppliers, technology partners, and joint-venture boards where applicable.
• Board / owners: Expect deep dives on risk, liquidity, talent, and transformation — slides light, substance heavy.

Travel & mobility

Role requires face-to-face presence in the primary hub with regular regional travel; remote-only not viable.

Compensation

Package aligned to CFO benchmarks in Banking, Financial Services & Insurance — typically fixed, variable, benefits, and mobility where applicable. Structure detailed at shortlist.

Application status

This mandate is no longer accepting new applications. The search progressed through Q4 2025 and closed for submissions in February 2026. We retain this posting for transparency on the type of leadership work we carry in Banking, Financial Services & Insurance and Malaysia. For similar active mandates, browse open roles or submit a general profile through executive search inquiry.

Reference: banking-financial-services · CFO · Malaysia · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors