Executive Leadership

Mr Farhan Ahmad was appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer on 12 April 2022

Mr. Ahmad has been a serial entrepreneur and senior executive in the banking sector for over 25 years. Prior to joining PayNet, he founded Bento for Business, the first B2B financial operating platform for SMEs. He successfully grew and sold Bento to US Bank, the fifth largest retail bank in the US.

Mr. Ahmad has extensive financial services experience in both USA and Europe, holding executive roles at Barclays, Discover Financial Services, JP Morgan Chase, and FirstUSA. He is best known for his enthusiasm for innovation, having pioneered several ‘first-of-its-kind’ payment solutions. He was a founding member of Aceva Technologies, the first Buy Now Pay Later solution in the US. He has also been a part of two other successful startups and has several patents in the payments space.

He is an Official Member of Forbes Finance Council since June 2019. An International Baccalaureate scholar, Mr Farhan Ahmad holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr Chua E Long is the Chief Operating Officer. He plays a pivotal role in ensuring PayNet’s day-to-day operations are at their peak, safeguarded, and financially robust. Working in partnership with all of the leaders in PayNet, he will work together in creating a culture of high performance, world-class operational effectiveness, and efficiency as we deliver our promises to our stakeholders.

E Long brings more than two decades of extensive experience in the financial services and enterprise technology sectors, demonstrating a remarkable track record in corporate strategy, digital technology, and operational excellence across both local and global corporations. With a strong commitment to customer-centricity, E Long has consistently focused on enhancing customer retention, driving digitalisation, and executing strategic initiatives.

Mr. Gary Yeoh was appointed as Chief Commercial Officer on 3 January 2023.

With close to three decades of experience in the retail, finance, and payment industries, Gary brings a wealth of expertise to his role as PayNet’s Chief Commercial Officer, where he will lead PayNet’s relationships with all our participants.

Prior to PayNet, Gary held various senior management positions in leading and driving growth and operations. As a founding member of Boost, an innovative e-wallet application that offers a rewarding user experience for loyal customers, and the founder of the Berjaya Loyalty program (Bcard), Gary has gained recognition for his innovation and leadership. Whereas as Country Manager of Fave and General Manager of BNPL operator Atome, Gary was able to bring together companies from across the financial ecosystem to develop innovative solutions to meet emerging customer needs.

Gary holds a Bachelor of Law degree (Barrister at Law Lincoln's Inn) from the University of Westminster in the United Kingdom.

Teh Lip Guan is PayNet’s Chief Technology Officer and is currently leading PayNet’s technology division.

He has over 15 years of experience in strategy, solution, and execution of Technology projects, driving innovation and transformation in delivering robust IT architecture and systems while managing operational and technology risks. His expertise includes management of the technology and operations agenda in growing transaction banking business income in South-East Asia and meeting business objectives and growth with proven track record in delivering faster time-to-market solutions. He is an active member of Bursa Malaysia Technology & Cybersecurity Committee since 2022.

Prior to joining PayNet, he was a senior member of the Group Technology and Operations at CIMB Bank, advisory board at PricewaterhouseCoopers(PWC) and member in management committees providing thought leadership in areas of technology and operations.

Teh Lip Guan holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), Electronic and Communications from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Australia.

Mr. Cheng Xing, brings over two decades of extensive experience in shaping financial products, demonstrating a proven track record in innovative developments across diverse markets such as Indonesia and Singapore. Prior to PayNet, Cheng played a key role in fostering financial inclusivity in ASEAN as the Chief Product Officer at Nikel, contributing to the success of their Lending SaaS solutions. His illustrious career includes pivotal roles at UOB and Citibank, where he earned industry awards for launching UOB China's first digital platform and leading Citibank’s online banking strategy in Asia-Pacific.

Cheng holds a Master of IT in Business from Singapore Management University and a Bachelor of Information Science from Nanjing University, Cheng's expertise spans product development, portfolio management, and risk management. At PayNet, he leads comprehensive product initiatives aimed at enhancing market adoption and growth in Malaysia, drawing insights from customers and partners to shape the company's product vision and strategy.

Mr Firdaus Ghani is Senior Director, Government Digitalisation Division since June 2019 where he is responsible for coordinating engagement with the leadership of PayNet’s ecosystem participants as well as with establishing rapport with government ministries, departments and public sector agencies to advocate cashless and e-payments adoption. He joined Malaysian Electronic Payment System Sdn Bhd (MEPS) in 2009 as Head of Finance and Administration. He was instrumental in the merger of MEPS with MyClear to create PayNet following which he was made Chief Financial Officer. As CFO, he played a key role in improving and automating accounting processes, management reporting and settlement processes.

Mr Firdaus has over 16 years of experience in the field of accounting, taxation, assurance, and treasury. He started his career at KPMG where he was trained in Assurance and Corporate Taxation and had also served as an accounting and finance professional at a major property company and an Islamic Bank.

Mr Firdaus holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from University of Newcastle in Australia. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) as well as a member of the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CA ANZ) and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA).

Mr Ken Yon assumed the role of Director, Risk & Compliance on 20 July 2016.

Mr Ken specialises in risk management and compliance for banks and has accumulated approximately 23 years of experience. He spent most of his career at Kuwait Finance House Malaysia and KPMG Malaysia where he was the Chief Risk Officer and a Managing Consultant (Financial Risk Management) respectively. He is a banking risk management practitioner and risk management consultant, having amassed a variety of experiences, including specialised areas such as risk management strategy, compliance, capital planning and management, asset and liability management, banking operations, product risk and project management of risk solutions.

Prior to joining PayNet, Mr Ken Yon worked in banks in Malaysia and Singapore, holding both frontline and backroom positions such as in Corporate Banking and Accounting & Control.

Mr Ken holds a Bachelor of Business in Financial Analysis from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

Puan Jun Maria Tan Abdullah was appointed as Director, Human Capital Management on 13 June 2017.

She is a full fledged HR professional with over 20 years experience in the function with strong passion in Recruitment, Talent Management and Development as well as Organization Development space. She is an expert in HR processes and a business driven HR who supports business key performance targets via the execution of strategies to support competency needs, workforce planning, talent acquisition, human capital development, employee engagement, cost containment and streamlining efficiency and operational competency. Proven track record in driving strategic initiatives to motivate, retain and develop people.

Puan Jun spent 7 years in Business Development as part of her personal development plan which contributed to her in-depth understanding in how the HR function supports an organization’s success.

Puan Jun holds a Masters of Arts (Communication) from University Sains Malaysia.

Ms Azleena Idris joined as Director, Corporate Services on 1 August 2019 where she heads corporate planning, legal, governance, rules, marketing and communications departments.

With over 2 decades of combined experience both as a regulator and a financial services sector professional, she played an instrumental role in a number of national and international initiatives including the 2nd Financial Sector Master Plan, Malaysia as an International Financial Centre (MIFC), Islamic Financial Services Act 2013, International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation, founding RHB Islamic Bank Berhad and merger and acquisition exercises involving the RHB Group. Prior to PayNet, she spent a brief stint as General Counsel of an Islamic bank during which the bank won a landmark Islamic finance case. Before that, she was with Bank Negara Malaysia with primary responsibilities in Islamic financial infrastructure development strategies for over a decade and RHB Capital Berhad for close to 10 years where she held a senior legal position and was also joint company secretary of Rashid Hussain Berhad, the ultimate listed parent company. She is also a short term expert with the International Monetary Fund and a short term consultant with the World Bank.

Apart from being trained and qualified as a lawyer in England, she has a Global Executive MBA jointly awarded by London School of Economics and Political Science, New York University Stern School of Business and HEC Paris. She is a Chartered Islamic Finance Professional conferred by the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professional where she is a Member of Professional Education and Academic Committee and International Chapter Committee.

Mr Boey was appointed as Director, Internal Audit on 3rd September 2019.

With over 20 years of IT audit experience, he was instrumental in several IT audit transformation initiatives covering IT audit strategies, risk-based IT audit frameworks and policies. Prior to PayNet, he was Director and Head of Regional IT Audit at CIMB Group where he managed IT audits across its regional offices in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, Shanghai and London. He started his career with RHB Bank Berhad as an IT auditor.

Mr Boey holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree majoring in Accounting from Dalhousie University, Canada.