A typical Malaysian firm has 13.8 per cent women board members, above the Asia Pacific average of 12.5 per cent and just below the global average of 15 per cent, according to a World Bank report on ‘Women on Boards in Malaysia’. A global executive search consultancy, Alexander Hughes Malaysia managing partner Narinder Kaur said Malaysia edging above Asia Pacific’s average comes as no surprise as the country has achieved multiple milestones in the corporate scene. "There is no doubt we are seeing more balance emerging and this is a positive outlook for Malaysia. Gender diversity at the leadership level, while it is widely and continuously talked about, is still the one key criterion that will give companies the edge to compete," she said. “Three out of 11 home grown investment banks had women chiefs. As reported by Bloomberg, this makes Malaysia a big outlier in a global space where 96 per cent of investment banking elites are men,” she said.

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