Maybank was co-founded by a MACSian

A young Gan Boon Koo during
 the early years of his career

Maybank as popularly known today was founded on 12th September, 1960. The founder-directors were Messrs Khoo Teck Puat, Gan Boon Koo, Jack Oei Tjong Ee, Dato’ Abdul Rahman Yasin,  and four others. The bank was formed with an authorised capital of  $20 million of which $7.5 million was paid-up immediately.

Gan Boon Koo was General Manager
of Malayan Banking Limited from
 its founding days

Initially named Malayan Banking Limited, it was headquartered at High Street, Kuala Lumpur in a building formerly known as Mansion House. The building was bought from Federal Dispensary for a million dollars, completely renovated and renamed Malayan Bank Building.

During the First Anniversary of the bank, about 2,000 people were invited to a cocktail party in the premises for the celebration. 21 branches had been opened in the Federation, 6 in Singapore and one in Brunei within the first year of operations. Equally remarkable is the bank’s achievement of not only surmounting the tide, but in ending less than a year of actual business activity with a modest profit.

MBB's First Anniversary Advertorial
in the Straits Times, 12.09.1961

Today, Maybank (MYX: 1155), a trade name for Malayan Banking Berhad is the largest bank and financial group in Malaysia, with significant banking operations in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.  Maybank is the largest bank in Malaysia with 384 domestic branches and 190 international branches and offices. Maybank is the largest listed company on the Malaysian Stock Exchange, Bursa Malaysia, with a market capitalisation of over RM54 billion (USD22 billion) as of end March 2011. In 2011, Maybank was ranked at 458th  in the Forbes Global 2000 Leading Companies with market cap of USD 20.98 billion.

Party for MACS Boarders in 2010
L-R:  Tan Kok Kee, Dr Lee Lai Hung,
Gan Boon Koo and Yew Yong Chan

While Maybank is a household word among young and old alike, many MACSians including those who do their banking with Maybank, are unaware that founding director Gan Boon Koo is a MACSian, Class of 1947. After his Senior Cambridge (he scored Class 1 with distinction in History of the British Empire), Boon Koo left to further his studies in economics in the United States. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of California.

According to a Straits Times report of 6th May 1967, he was Deputy Chairman of Singapore Finance Limited, Chairman of Stamford Holdings Ltd, Managing Director of Gan Teng Siew Realty and director of South East Asia Mining Ltd.

Nowadays, Gan Boon Koo still goes to his private office at Gan Teng Siew Realty in Kuala Lumpur regularly to keep busy and abreast of developments.

Below are snap-shots of the CTB Pages on Gan Boon Koo: