Malaysian Billionaire Teh Hong Piow, Founder Of Public Bank, Dies At Age 92

Billionaire banker Teh Hong Piow—founder and chairman emeritus of Malaysia’s Public Bank—passed away peacefully on Monday at age 92.

“Throughout his life, Teh had dedicated himself to build Public Bank as a strong banking group in Malaysia in support of the banking and finance industry,” Public Bank said in a statement. “Teh had built a solid foundation and cultivated a strong corporate culture with a resilient business model for the Public Bank Group to continue on a solid growth path while navigating through challenges throughout the years.”

The self-made entrepreneur started his banking career as a clerk at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. in Singapore in 1950. A decade later, Teh joined Malayan Banking where he rose through the ranks to become general manager at age 34. In 1965, he founded Public Bank and served as the bank’s CEO until 2002 when he was appointed chairman.

Having built Public Bank to become the country’s second-largest lender with a market cap of 85 billion ringgit ($19 billion), Teh was designated chairman emeritus in 2019 after he retired. Apart from Malaysia, the bank serves millions of customers across Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

With a net worth of $5.7 billion, Teh was ranked No. 4 on Malaysia’s 50 Richest that was published in June.