Labuan IBFC chief executive departs
Farah Jaafar, chief executive officer of Labuan International Business and Financial Centre, has left. She has taken a role as managing director and chief communications officer of Fusang Digital Asset Exchange, Asia’s first fully-regulated digital securities exchange.
Jaafar had been with the special economic zone of the Malaysian government for seven years. Starting as director of market intelligence and strategic communications, she took the CEO position in January 2018. Between 2008 and 2013, she also worked as director of branding for the IBFC.
Under her leadership, Labuan became the fastest growing captives centre in Asia. It registered 18 new captives in the third quarter of 2021 alone. In December, the centre’s director general, Nik Mohamed Din Nik Musa, announced that the captive sector would be a primary focus in Labuan IBFC’s Strategic Roadmap for the next five years.
For Jaafar, the move to Fusang is a return to her roots in capital markets. She began her career as an institutional dealer for equities commodities and derivatives at TA Securities Holdings and is a former head of marketing communications for Bursa Malaysia, as well as director of communications for the Asian Institute of Finance.
In an update on LinkedIn, Jaafar said she would continue to propagate the benefits of Labuan in her new role.
No successor has yet been announced.
