Tengku Zafrul Aziz is Malaysia’s Minister of Investment, Trade & Industry, responsible for growing the country’s manufacturing industry and trade, as well as attracting investments into the country. In 2023, he spearheaded the formulation of Malaysia’s New Industrial Master Plan 2030, the Chemical Industry Roadmap 2030 and the National Industry ESG Framework, set to transform Malaysia’s industrial landscape and elevate Malaysia’s industries in the global value chain. In 2024, under his tenure, MITI also launched the Green Investment Strategy and the Circular Economy Policy Framework for the Manufacturing Sector, in line with the strategies and aspirations outlined by key Malaysian roadmaps particularly NIMP 2030.

A clear champion of Malaysian interests, Tengku Zafrul has consistently promoted Malaysia’s economic and industrial reform stories through various exclusive international media interviews, including by Bloomberg, CGTN, CNA, CNBC, CNN, the Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine, the Jakarta Post, Japan Times, the Straits Times, South China Morning Post, Singapore Business Times, Thai PBS, TIME, the New York Times and the Washington Post. He has also been invited to speak at various thought leadership fora including by the Belt & Road Summit, Fortune, Khazanah Megatrends Forum, the Milken Institute, the World Economic Forum, Bloomberg Events, SCMP Events, and the S.Rajaratnam Endowment Dialogue.

Tengku Zafrul was previously Malaysia’s Minister of Finance from March 2020 –October 2022, where he drove the formulation and implementation of eight stimulus and aid packages, the phased National Recovery Plan (NRP) to support Malaysia’s safe exit from the pandemic, as well as three national budgets (2021 -2023). Malaysia achieved a GDP of 8.7% in 2022, the highest in ASEAN and the nation’s highest in 22 years, largely due to targeted pandemic-related policy
measures. These measures are detailed in his book, Weathering the Economic Storm: A Journey through the Uncharted Waters of COVID-19, published in 2022.

Immediately prior to his first ministerial appointment, Tengku Zafrul wasthe Group CEO and Executive Director of CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, a leading ASEAN universal bank and a global leader in Islamic finance, with presence in 13 countries.

He had also served as the President Commissioner of PT Bank CIMB Niaga in
Indonesia. His 22-year career in banking and finance also saw him helm senior positions at Maybank Investment Bank Berhad, Maybank Kim Eng Holdings, Citigroup Malaysia, Kenanga Holdings Berhad, Avenue Securities and Tune Money.

A keen sports, sustainability and youth development enthusiast, Tengku Zafrul spearheaded various initiatives such as CIMB’s The Cooler Earth Sustainability Summit, the CIMB ASEAN Scholarship and the CIMB Foundation’s proprietary Be$MART financial literacy programme for underprivileged students. He also completed the full Iron Man Challenge in 2019 and raised funds for charity by successfully completing the Abbott World Marathon Majors between 2016 - 2018.

Married to Raja Johanna Adrina Raja Arshad, Tengku Zafrul has four children aged 20, 12, 10 and 8. He is also an Honorary Captain in Malaysia’s Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Business and Trade, and Baroness in Waiting (Government Whip) on 9 July 2024.

Baroness Jones joined the House of Lords in 2006. She has previously served as Shadow Spokesperson for:

Science, Innovation and Technology from 2023 to 2024
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2015 to 2022
Education from 2011 to 2015
Culture, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2014
She was previously a trade union official, including as Director of Policy and Public Affairs for UNISON from 1994 to 2006.

Baroness Jones was previously Chair of Rothamsted Enterprises at the Rothamsted research institute, a Board member at Ombudsman Services, a member of the General Medical Council Fitness to Practice Panel, and Vice chair of Circle Housing Group.

During his year as Lord Mayor, Alderman King acts as a spokesperson for the City, leading overseas business delegations to key international markets on behalf of the UK financial and professional services industry.

In the role he will meet government representatives, alongside business leaders and policy makers both at home and abroad. He will look to strengthen economic ties with the UK, identify new business opportunities and promote the UK as a top global destination for foreign investment.

Alderman King’s Mayoral Theme is Growth Unleashed. As part of this, he will be championing the launch of a series of City Belonging Networks. The networks will bring Employee Resource Groups and individuals together across the Square Mile to create events, improve communication and consultation and foster community.

Virtual recording

Martin Kent was appointed His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Asia Pacific in September 2023. He joined from an interim posting as the Minister and Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy Tokyo.

Martin previously served as a Director within the Department for Business and Trade, prior to which he was HM Deputy Trade Commissioner to Africa, based in the British Embassy Cairo.

Martin joined the Civil Service in 2015 as the Deputy Director for Global Operations at UK Trade and Investment (UKTI).

He started his career at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in London and worked mainly overseas with multinational companies, including extended periods in Australia and Singapore.

Martin graduated from St John’s College, Cambridge University, and is from Colchester in Essex.

Prior to co-founding Ikhlas, Nazir led CIMB as Chairman from 2014 to 2018, and as Group CEO from 1999 to 2014. As Group CEO of CIMB, he spearheaded CIMB’s transformation from a local investment bank to the fifth largest universal bank in ASEAN, the largest Asia Pacific-based investment bank and a world leader in Islamic finance. He served on the Investment Panel of the Employees Provident Fund (2002 to 2017) and the board of Khazanah Nasional (2014 to 2018). Nazir is currently the Chairman of PLS Plantations and Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad, a development finance institution.

Nazir has received some of the most prestigious awards from international journals and institutions as a banker and a corporate leader. He is recognised as a passionate advocate of ASEAN through his achievements at CIMB, founding of the ASEAN Business Club and inaugural chairmanship of the World Economic Forum ASEAN Regional Strategy Group. He is currently the Chairman of ASEAN Business Advisory Council Malaysia.

Nazir holds a BSc from Bristol University and an MPhil from Cambridge University. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and at the Blavatnik School of Government (“BSG”), Oxford University. He is also currently a member of the BSG’s International Advisory Board.

Lord Vaizey was appointed to the UK House of Lords in September 2020, where he sits as a Conservative Peer and is a member of the Communications and Digital Committee.

Ed was the Member of Parliament for Wantage between 2005 and 2019. He served as the UK Government Culture and Digital Minister from 2010-16 and is the longest-serving Minister in that role. He was appointed a privy councillor in 2016. Lord Vaizey served as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos between 2017 and 2019.

Ian was appointed CEO of the UK-ASEAN Business Council in September 2020. Before taking up this position, he had held a variety of roles across government including British Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Deputy Principal Private Secretary to Rt Hons Alistair Darling, Alan Johnson and Patricia Hewitt and Director of Business Development with the MWW Group in New York working in public relations. Before this, he spent 4.5 years in New York as head of Invest UK’s Regional Inward Investment Team (the British Government’s agency responsible for attracting inward investment from the United States to the UK).

Stuart Tait was appointed Head of Commercial Banking UK in December 2021 and is responsible for HSBC’s relationships with 900,000 large, medium and small business clients.

He is a General Manager at HSBC Group, one of the world‘s largest banking and financial services organisations with assets of nearly US$3 trillion.

Prior to his current role, Stuart was Regional Head of Commercial Banking for Asia Pacific, the leading international wholesale bank in the region and one of the Group‘s fastest-growing franchises.

Stuart has worked in financial services for over 30 years. He joined HSBC in 1984 as an International Manager and has held various positions in Commercial Banking, Global Banking and Markets, Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Human Resources and Risk. Previous assignments with HSBC have been based in various Asia markets, the Middle East, the US, Canada and in the Group‘s Head Office.

Helen Brand is chief executive of ACCA, the global body for professional accountants. Since taking up the role in 2008, Helen has led ACCA through a period of global growth which has seen its membership double to more than quarter of a million. ACCA’s diverse and inclusive community has expanded to cover 180 countries, and also includes more than half a million future members.

Helen is a passionate advocate of the role of accountants in driving an ethical, sustainable and inclusive approach to business and the public sector, and is a frequent speaker on these issues. She has widened ACCA’s role in advancing the profession and contributing to the public good, for example through its pioneering work to support the development of the profession in emerging economies and its leadership in developing the skills needed for sustainability reporting and assurance.

She was a founding member of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and played a role in its successor organisations.

Helen is also a member of the UK government’s Professional and Business Services Council, and has participated in a number of trade advisory forums and university advisory boards. In 2022, under India’s leadership, she was a member of the B20 Task Force on the future of Work, Skills and Mobility and in June 2023 she joined the Board of the UK-ASEAN Business Council (UKABC).

Helen was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June 2011 for services to accountancy and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter in December 2017.

Stephanie Betant is currently the Head of GTS for HSBC UK. She took on this role in Feb ’23, leading the industry leading trade platform in the UK facilitating domestic and international
commerce for customers.

Prior to this she headed Wholesale Banking in Vietnam based in Ho Chi Minh, where she lead a team of 200 bankers powering one of Asia’s fastest-growing economy. Together they secured HSBC’s position as the leading corporate bank in Vietnam.

She is an HSBC International Manager with 16 years of financial services industry experience, holding multiple senior positions in Commercial Banking with HSBC. Her career began in New York, eventually taking her to Asia where she spent the past 12 years between Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

During Stephanie’s time in China she built a team supporting Chinese international investment,
navigating complex financial and regulatory environments to deliver ground-breaking connections for Chinese corporates.

During her time in Vietnam, Stephanie has worked closely with the government and business community on Vietnam’s transition plan to net zero emissions.

She is a mother to two young boys, a French national who speaks fluent French and English with
conversational Mandarin and Spanish. She is passionate about building lasting bridges between the East and West. She studied economics and finance at Paris Dauphine University

Tracy is CEO at the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and Non-Executive Director at Salix Finance Ltd. and the Financial Services Skills Commission.

She is experienced in strategy development, legislative change, public policy and communications, first as a Civil Servant, then Regulator in Financial and Legal Services. Tracy started her career in Whitehall as a new graduate and served as a Senior Civil Servant in several Departments, mostly in the Department for Business, the Government Equalities Unit and finally at the then Department for Energy and Climate Change.

Spells out of Whitehall included several commercial placements and secondments. After leaving Whitehall for Executive Director roles at the Financial Reporting Council and then the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Tracy was appointed CEO at the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment in September 2022. She became a Non-Executive Director at Salix Finance Ltd from August 2022 and a Non-Executive at the Financial Services Skills Commission in May 2023.

Tracy was awarded an OBE for services to Business and Diversity in January 2020. She is member of Oxford University Business School Major Projects Leadership Academy.

Mak Joon Nien was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Member of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia in 2022. He is the first Malaysian to hold the position at the country’s oldest operating bank.

In his capacity as CEO, Mak is responsible for shaping the bank's business strategy, steering its
performance, overseeing operations, and upholding corporate governance.

In June 2024, Mak took on an expanded role as Head of Banking and Coverage. In this capacity, he
spearheads client relationships and propels the Corporate and Investment banking business
through the seamless delivery of services, solutions, and product offerings to this crucial client segment.

Mak earned a Business degree from Bradford University, followed by a Master's degree from Imperial College London. Additionally, he actively shares financial insights in a range of media
publications, speaking engagements and various industry bodies.

Mak's esteemed affiliations include being a member of the Council of the Association of Banks
Malaysia (ABM), the Council of the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB), a Director of the
Financial Industry Collective Outreach (FINCO), a Board member of Standard Chartered Global
Business Services (GBS), Asian Banking School (ABS) and serving as the Chairman of the British
Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (BMCC).

Suwei is a Partner within Strategic International Markets at PwC UK. She has specific responsibilities for leading PwC services in support of bilateral and multilateral trade and investments with Greater China & Southeast Asia markets.

Suwei is an audit and deals partner by background and has been dealing with all aspects of Greater China and ASEAN inbound and outbound businesses across different sectors for the past 18 years. Suwei is an experienced practitioner in delivering market access, M&A and capital markets transactions, financing projects, and advisory engagements for private sector clients in the UK, China and Southeast Asia.

On the public sector front, she regularly advises the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) on a range of projects in the Asian region, including the delivery of large scale multi-year ODA programmes including FSIP and Better Health programmes in Southeast Asia, and the Prosperity Fund Business Environment Programme in China.

Suwei has also been advising the City of London Corporation and the Lord Mayor of City of London regarding their Asia engagement strategies. Suwei was born and brought up in China. She has an MBA in International Business with Distinction from Bristol University.

Suwei is a fluent English and Mandarin speaker, with basic knowledge of German and Cantonese.

Freya is Managing Director, Vocational Qualifications & Training at Pearson plc.

A Business and strategy leader with more than 20 years experience in UK and international high-profile businesses. She has particular expertise in education, spanning the UK, the US, India and other fast-growing markets.

Freya's areas of focus are:
- Delivering rapid revenue growth across multiple markets
- Operational delivery and turnaround projects
- Digital strategy for Media and Education companies, in a range of regulatory environments
- Delivering cost efficiencies and improved product quality and innovation
- Understanding the role of state and private entities in delivering improved education for young people.

Jukhee Hong has been an active policy advocate for ASEAN economic integration and wears different hats in different ASEAN organisations. She is deeply involved in cross-sectoral ASEAN policy advocacy and consultations with government leaders and ministers in official business-to-government policy channels representing the voices of the private sector. She is a PhD candidate with the Xian Jiaotong University of China focusing on digitalisation and climate change.

Between 2010 and 2022, she headed CARI ASEAN Research & Advocacy and its predecessor, CIMB ASEAN Research Institute, an independent think tank dedicated to supporting ASEAN economic integration through advocacy and research.

Before the cabinet reshuffle of Malaysia in March 2020, she had served as the Executive Director for the APEC Business Advisory Council (APEC-BAC) for the 21 economies including the host country Malaysia. She also led the secretariat tasked to organise the APEC CEO Summit 2020.

She was also the Executive Director of the ASEAN Business Club, an association of chief executives of large corporations and companies in ASEAN. She has spearheaded business missions across ASEAN and beyond, including Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom interacting with the highest level of dignitaries.

Prior to her career in ASEAN affairs, she was a multi-award-winning trilingual media practitioner in Malaysia, media advisor to cabinet ministers, news anchor, host and executive producer with over 12 years of experience.

Dr Linda Yueh CBE is Fellow in Economics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, Adjunct Professor of Economics at London Business School, and was Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Peking University. She is an Associate Fellow of the US and the Americas Programme at Chatham House. Dr Yueh is a Member of the UK Soft Power Council.

She is Chair of Baillie Gifford's The Schiehallion Fund Ltd and Non-Executive Director of Rentokil Initial plc, SEGRO plc and Standard Chartered plc. She is Executive Chair of the Royal Commonwealth Society and a Trustee of the Fidelity UK and International Foundations.

She was an Adviser to the UK Board of Trade as well as a Member of the Independent Review Panel on Ring-fencing and Proprietary Trading.

Professor Yueh has written/edited 11 books. Her latest book is The Great Crashes: Lessons from Global Crashes and How to Prevent Them, selected as the Best New Economics Books by the Financial Times. Her previous book, The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today, was The Times’s Best Business Books of the Year, and Newsweek magazine’s Best Books of the Year.

Genie has over 15+ years of experience in Global Mobility. In her current role in Mott MacDonald, she has global oversight and responsible for policy development, process optimization and vendor management.

Throughout her career, she has managed complex mobility programs for multinational corporations and worked on large-scale transformation projects to achieve business goals.

She is passionate about supporting organizational growth through talent mobility, and continuously seek to innovate and improve global mobility processes to meet the evolving needs of the global workforce.

Charles Hay MVO started as the British High Commissioner to Malaysia in March 2019 in succession to Vicki Treadell CMG MVO.

Prior to Malaysia, Mr Hay was the British Ambassador to South Korea from 2015 to 2018. During his time in the British diplomatic services, he has been posted to the Czech Republic, Spain and the UK Representation to the EU in Brussels. Charles was also the Director of Consular Services in London, responsible for assisting British nationals and in crisis management worldwide. Before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1993, he was a Captain in the British Army.

Mr Hay is married to Pascale Sutherland and they have two daughters. He has a Master in Business Administration as well as a BA in Philosophy and Politics.

James Crabtree is a distinguished visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Crabtree is a geopolitical analyst and author, with extensive experience living and working in Asia. His book The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age, was named an Amazon book of the year and short-listed as a Financial Times & McKinsey business book of the year. Prior to joining ECFR, he was the Singapore-based executive director of the Institute of International Strategic Studies in Asia, where he led the organisation of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit, and an associate professor in practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School, Asia’s leading school of public policy.

James spent ten years as a journalist and foreign correspondent, notably for the Financial Times, where he was both Mumbai bureau chief and comment editor. He is currently a columnist for Foreign Policy and writes for publications ranging from the Straits Times to The New York Times, the Guardian and Wired. He previously worked as a senior advisor in the UK prime minister’s Strategy Unit, under Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Crabtree has worked for various think tanks in London and Washington, and spent several years living in America, initially as a Fulbright Scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Mallika is Shell’s Chief Economist. She advises on macroeconomic issues, economic trends, and related policy matters to shape Shell’s long-term scenario outlooks. She leads strategic engagements on energy transitions with national and city governments across the world, notably a multi-year collaboration with the Chinese government. Mallika also advises on Shell’s strategic policy and advocacy approach to support the company’s energy transition strategy. She sits on a range of external advisory boards.

Prior to joining Shell, she was Deputy Director at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responsible for evidence and analysis across the environment, food, and green economy portfolio. She has held senior positions across the UK government, including at the Cabinet Office as Head of Policy Analysis for the 2009 G20 London Summit. Before that, Mallika worked in senior economics and policy roles in the USA.

Mallika holds Ph.D. and M.S degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, and a B.A. from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University.

Duncan joined Prudential plc, the Asia and Africa-focused life and health insurer and asset manager, in 2016. He started his career in the UK civil service, primarily working on the UK's trade and investment relationship with Asian markets and as a private secretary to the UK Business Secretary during the 2008-09 global financial crisis. Before joining Prudential, he worked in a public policy consultancy and as Chief of Staff to the Chair and CEO of the UK's Banking Standards Board.