Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Recognising leadership that takes a lifetime to build
To recognise individuals who reshaped not only the institutions that they worked for, but the entire financial services industry in their respective countries and regions, The Asian Banker seeks to recognise people who are considered giants in the industry because of their lifetime contributions and leadership.
This is perhaps the most prestigious of the achievement award, as it recognises those who have gone ahead of us in the industry, and have distinguished their reputations, skills and achievements over a lifetime, setting the benchmark from which we assess others who distinguish themselves on current achievements. The lifetime winners recognised in the past have made considerable contributions to the building of institutions that have gone from strength to strength, and in some cases have created an entire industry in their respective countries.
There is a common thread among those who have won this recognition in the past, even when we were not specifically looking for these traits: humility, integrity of the highest order, larger than life accomplishments in the industry and an uncanny common sense that is increasingly ignored in business today. Their accomplishments are well regarded by both friend and foe alike, regardless of whom we interview to get a peer review. Only a few men and women will ever win this prestigious recognition, and those who do will always be a beacon to the rest of us.
The award has been named “The William “Bill” Seidman Award for Lifetime Achievement in Leadership in the Financial Services Industry” in memory of L. William “Bill” Seidman, the former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, who served from 1985 to 1991 and worked for US Presidents Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Seidman was a close friend of the Asian Banker and spoke at the Asian Banker Summit. He exemplifies fully the qualities that we expound in the Award.
The criteria by which we assess candidates for this award are:
- Time spent in the industry (we also take into consideration time spent in other industries that contributed to a candidate’s involvement in the financial services industry).
- Assess the candidate relative to peers in the industry, with achievements over and above peers in the industry.
- We assess the performance of the institution(s) for which the candidate demonstrated leadership in terms of financial and business achievement. We assess the candidate’s statesmanship as demonstrated by activities outside of the institution.
- We look for specific incidents during the candidate’s career that demonstrate leadership ability in terms of the degree of difficulty, tenacity, and creativity in solving these incidents.
- We review performance against the transformation taking place in the industry, such as liberalisation, intense competition, the impact of technology, and others in the industry.
- In all the time the person has been in the industry, the highest level of integrity, a larger-than-life accomplishments in the industry, and an uncanny common sense will be ever-present traits.
Previous recipients of this award include Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the People's Bank of China;
Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, former governor of Bank Negara Malaysia; Banthoon Lamsam, chairman emeritus of Kasikornbank; Agus Martowardojo, former finance minister and former governor of Bank Indonesia; Cesar Enrique Aguinaldo Virata, vice chairman and corporate vice-chairman of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation and former prime minister of the Philippines; Teh Hong Piow, founder and chairman of Public Bank; David Eldon, former chairman of HSBC, the late Wee Cho Yaw, chairman UOB; and Peter Seah, chairman of DBS.
Click here for the full list since 2000.
