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Tengku Zafrul bin Tengku Abdul Aziz (, ; born 25 June 1973) is a Malaysian
politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
, banker and
investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...
who has served as the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry in the Unity Government administration under Prime Minister
Anwar Ibrahim Anwar bin Ibrahim (; born 10 August 1947), also known by his abbreviation as DSAI and PMX, is a Malaysian politician who is the 10th prime minister of Malaysia since 2022. A member of the People's Justice Party (Malaysia), People's Justice P ...
since April 2023. He is a member of the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of the
Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...
(PH) coalition and was a member of the
United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Abbreviation, abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a Conservatism, conservative, Nationalism, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its ince ...
(UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition. He was a Member of the UMNO Supreme Council and Division Chief of UMNO of Kota Raja from March 2023 to his departure from the party in May 2025. His term as the Minister and Senator is expected to end on 2 December 2025. He was elected unanimously as the 13th President of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) since May 2025.


Early life and education

Tengku Zafrul was born on 25 June 1973 and is the eldest of four siblings. His mother, Raja Datuk Zaharaton Raja Zainal Abidin, is the former Director-General Of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's Department of Malaysia and his father, Tengku Abdul Aziz Tengku Haris, is a businessman. Tengku Zafrul began his early education at Sri Petaling Primary School and Bukit Bintang Primary School. He continued his studies at
Malay College Kuala Kangsar The Malay College Kuala Kangsar (abbreviated MCKK; ; ) is a residential school in Malaysia. It is an all-boys and all- Malay school in the royal town of Kuala Kangsar, Perak. It is sometimes dubbed "the Eton College of the East". The Malay Col ...
and then studied A-Level at Sherborne School in Dorset, United Kingdom. He graduated from the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
, UK with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in economics and accounting, and obtained a Master of Arts (MA) in Finance and Management from the
University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...
, UK. From 2017 to 2019, Tengku Zafrul completed his second master's degree for Executive Master in Business Administration (EMBA) at
Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...
PBCSF (People's Bank of China School of Finance). He is also a Fellow Chartered Banker with the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers.


Corporate career

Zafrul started out as a corporate finance executive in AmInvestment Bank in 1996. He then joined Crédit Agricole as an investment analyst, moving up to director within a few years. Succeeding this, he became the advisor to the president of Tenaga Nasional Berhad. Zafrul then joine
CIMB Investment Banking
after which he was appointed as group managing director of Avenue Capital Resources (now ECM Libra), a listed company specialising in financial services i.e. investment banking and fund management. He was also chief executive officer of Avenue Securities and the chairman of Avenue Asset Management. Zafrul then went on to become the head of investment banking for Citigroup Malaysia. He is also the main investor behind Tune Money Sdn Bhd, Asia's first "no-frills" online financial service provider as well as its CEO and substantial shareholder. Following that, Zafrul was appointed as group director of Kenanga Holdings Berhad and director of Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad. Prior to assuming his most recent role with CIMB, Zafrul was the chief executive officer of Maybank Investment Bank, the fully owned investment banking arm of Malayan Banking Berhad, Malaysia's flagship financial services player. The acquisition of Kim Eng Holdings Limited (Kim Eng) by the Maybank Group in 2011 resulted in the combined entity of Maybank IB and Kim Eng, known regionally as Maybank Kim Eng, of which Zafrul was also CEO. On 9 March 2020, Tengku Zafrul announced his resignation as CIMB group chief executive officer before being appointed minister of finance.


Other positions

#AmInvestment Bank (corporate finance executive) (June 1996 – April 1997) #Credit Agricole (investment analyst and director) (May 1997 – August 1998) & (July 1999 – March 2001) #Tenaga Nasional Bhd (president's advisor) (March 2001 – September 2002) #CIMB Investment Bank Berhad (director, "client coverage") (September 2002 – April 2003) #Avenue Capital Resources Bhd/Avenue Securities (now ECM Libra) (chief executive officer and chairman) (2003–2006) #Citigroup Malaysia (head of investment banking) (April 2006 – March 2007) #Tune Money (chief executive officer) (March 2007 – December 2008) #Kenanga Holdings Berhad and Investment (group director) (January 2009 – June 2010) #Maybank Investment Bank Berhad and Maybank Kim Eng Holdings (chief executive officer) (June 2010 – December 2013) #CIMB Investment Bank Berhad (chief executive officer and co-chairman of corporate solutions) (2014–2016) #CIMB Bank Berhad (chief executive officer) (2014–2015) #CIMB Group Holdings Berhad (group chief executive officer) (February 2015 – 9 March 2020)


Recognition and awards

Throughout his career, Zafrul was awarded with numerous Prestigious Awards including ASEAN CEO Award by Technology Business Review (2008). He also was given the Malaysian Business Leadership Award in the year 2009. Most Promising Entrepreneurship Awards by Enterprise Asia (2008) and the Malaysian Business Leadership Award by The Leaders Magazine. Most recently, he was awarded the Masterclass CEO of the Year in the 7th Global Leadership Award organised by the American Leadership Development Association (2017) and the Best Chief Executive Officer for Investor Relations by the Malaysia Investor Relations Association (2017). Tengku Zafrul has also bagsed TalentCorp's Life at Work 2019 Award for the CEO category of Malaysian organizations.


Television and other media

Tengku Zafrul was one of the judges of the corporate reality television series ''
The Firm The FIRM is a brand of exercise videos and equipment currently owned by Gaiam. First released in 1986, the video series is best known for popularizing a hybrid of aerobic exercise and weight training. History In 1979, Anna Benson founded th ...
''. The show premiered prime time nationwide on
NTV7 Natseven TV Sdn Bhd, operating as NTV7 is a Malaysian free-to-air television channel owned by Media Prima, Media Prima Berhad. The third private commercial TV station in Malaysia, the network focused on the urban area with various types of ...
and Astro's Channel 7 in Malaysia in 2007. As one of the three millionaire judges on ''The Firm'', the other two beings
Peter Pek Peter Pek is a Malaysian businessman, and the chief executive of the World Branding Forum, a global non-profit organisation that manages and supports a range of programmes. He is also the executive producer of the World Branding Awards. He is th ...
and
Chan Boon Yong Chan Boon Yong, a second-generation diamantaire born in Malaysia and currently based in Shanghai since 2008, is a prominent jeweller specialising in large diamonds and founder of The Carat Club. Upon graduating from the London School of Econom ...
, he is considered one of Malaysia's few corporate celebrities. He has also appeared in advertisements for Tune Money. On 4 July 2020, Tengku Zafrul became a Special Guest on
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...
's Money Matters program.


Political career

On 9 March 2020, Tengku Zafrul was appointed in Muhyiddin's cabinet as Minister of Finance after being made a Senator. He is a
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
from March 2020 to his resignation in November 2022 and again since December 2022. Prior to his political appointments, he was the
Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
(CEO) and Executive Director of the CIMB Group Holdings Berhad. He was also
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
and executive director of the CIMB Bank Berhad and president commissioner of the PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk.


Minister of Finance

He started his first term from March 2020 to August 2021 as well as Coordinating Minister of the National Recovery Plan from July 2021 to August 2021 in the
Perikatan Nasional Perikatan Nasional (PN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Right-wing politics, right-wing and Far-right politics, far-right political parties. It is the second largest political coalition in Dewan Rakyat w ...
(PN) administration under former prime minister
Muhyiddin Yassin Mahiaddin bin Md Yasin (born 15 May 1947), commonly known as Muhyiddin bin Mohd Yassin (; ), is a Malaysian politician who served as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2020 to 2021. Appointed as prime minister amid a 2020–2022 Malay ...
and later for his tenure for the second term in the
Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...
(BN) administration under former prime minister
Ismail Sabri Yaakob Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob (; born 18 January 1960) is a Malaysian lawyer and politician who served as the ninth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2021 to 2022. He is both the shortest-serving prime minister (served for 15 months) and the shortes ...
from August 2021 to November 2022. As he was not an elected Member of Parliament (MP), he was appointed as an independent Senator twice in March 2020 and again in December 2022, in order to assume his duties as the first
technocratic Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...
Minister of Finance in March 2020 as he was also the first
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
individual in terms of active political party association, to be appointed minister of finance in the Malaysian history. He embarked on a task to assist the people and industry in the implementation of the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package during the outbreak of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia The COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). , with over 5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, a high of approximately 323,0 ...
. Tengku Zafrul also explains the economic recovery plan will be announced after Aidilfitri to revive the affected economy of Malaysia. Under the Short-Term Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA), Tengku Zafrul has launched the ePenjana credit program worth RM750 million to aimed at boosting consumer spending in Malaysia. On 6 November 2020, Tengku Zafrul presented the 2021 budget in the
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
to ensure that the economy revives and benefits the people. In June 2022, Tengku Zafrul announced the largest subsidies and cash aid package in Malaysian history (77.3 billion ringgit) for the year 2022, in order to temper the effect of inflation.


Minister of International Trade and Industry

He first served as Minister of International Trade and Industry in the PH administration under Prime Minister Anwar from December 2022 to April 2023, before the ministry was renamed to Investment, Trade, and Industry.


UMNO and BN

Tengku Zafrul began his active political career in July 2022 when he was appointed the State Treasurer of Barisan Nasional (BN) Selangor. He subsequently became the State Treasurer of UMNO Selangor in April 2023, a position he held until his resignation in April 2024. In March 2023, he was elected as the UMNO Division Chief for Kota Raja, and in the same year, he won a seat on the UMNO Supreme Council in the 2023 United Malays National Organisation leadership election. On May 30, 2025, Tengku Zafrul officially resigned from UMNO, vacating his positions as Supreme Council member and Kota Raja Division Chief. His departure marked the end of his nearly three-decade-long affiliation with the party, having first joined UMNO in 1997.


Transition to PKR

Following his resignation from UMNO, Tengku Zafrul announced his intention to join the People’s Justice Party (PKR). He stated that the decision came after careful reflection and consultation with colleagues, including UMNO President Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. He has since informed PKR leadership of his intent and will undergo the standard application process to become a member. As of his announcement, Tengku Zafrul has not yet been officially admitted into PKR.


Personal life

Tengku Zafrul is married to Raja Datin Seri Utama Johanna Adrina Raja Arshad, a member of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan royal family. The couple have two daughters and two sons. Since his school days, Tengku Zafrul was interested in sports such as hockey and ran for recreation. During his first year at the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
, his main transportation was by bicycle. His interests include keeping fit through running, cycling and swimming, and developing the youth through his participation in various organisations such as the Kalsom Movement and Teach for Malaysia. He has completed all six marathons under the Abbott World Marathon Majors. He is also a fan of the football club,
Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...
, which plays in the English Premier League.


Election results


Honours


Honours of Malaysia

* : ** Recipient of the 14th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Installation Medal (2012) ** Recipient of the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Installation Medal (2024) * : ** Grand Knight of the Order of the Territorial Crown (SUMW) – Datuk Seri Utama (2021) * : ** Knight Grand Commander of the
Order of the Life of the Crown of Kelantan Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...
(SJMK) – Dato' (2022) * : ** Knight Commander of the Order of Loyalty to Negeri Sembilan (DPNS) – Dato' (2014) ** Recipient of the Tuanku Muhriz Installation Medal (2009) * : ** Grand Knight of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (SSAP) – Dato' Sri (2015) ** Knight Companion of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (DSAP) – Dato' (2009) * : ** Recipient of the Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail Installation Medal (2001) * : ** Knight Grand Commander of the
Order of the Crown of Selangor The Most Illustrious Order of the Crown of Selangor (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Selangor Yang Amat Mulia'') is an order awarded by Sultan of Selangor as a reward for general services to the sultan and state of Selangor. It was foun ...
(SPMS) – Dato' Seri (2022) ** Knight Commander of the
Order of the Crown of Selangor The Most Illustrious Order of the Crown of Selangor (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Selangor Yang Amat Mulia'') is an order awarded by Sultan of Selangor as a reward for general services to the sultan and state of Selangor. It was foun ...
(DPMS) – Dato' (2016) ** Recipient of the Sultan Salahuddin Silver Jubilee Medal (1985) ** Recipient of the Sultan Sharafuddin Coronation Medal (2003)


Foreign honours

* : ** Commander of the
Order of Saint-Charles The Order of Saint Charles (; Monégasque: ''U̍rdine de San Carlu'') is a dynastic order of knighthood established in Monaco on 15 March 1858. Award This order rewards service to the State or Prince. In particular cases, it may be grante ...
(27 November 2023)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tengku Zafrul Aziz 1973 births Living people People from Kuala Lumpur Malaysian people of Malay descent Malaysian Muslims Malaysian businesspeople Malaysian bankers Malaysian chief executives Malaysian bloggers Malaysian television personalities Royal House of Selangor Government ministers of Malaysia Ministers of finance of Malaysia Members of the Dewan Negara 21st-century Malaysian politicians Knights Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor Alumni of the University of Bristol Former United Malays National Organisation politicians People's Justice Party (Malaysia) politicians People educated at Sherborne School