Mohd Sofiyuddin Ahmad Tabrani

Mohd Sofiyuddin advises the Government and clients on policy, strategy, regulatory, law reform, good regulatory practices (GRP), privatisation, and corporatisation matters as well as business advisory, corporate advisory, mergers and acquisitions, compliance, legal audit, governance, financial services including Islamic, Islamic finance and company secretarial matters. He also advises on regulatory framework and mapping, and drafting of primary and subsidiary legislations.

Mohd Sofiyuddin has been engaged for various governmental, corporate, and financial advisory services, which include advising government ministries, regulators, authorities, agencies, statutory bodies, and other government entities, government linked companies and foreign and local financial services groups, multinational companies, and conglomerates.

Mohd Sofiyuddin was a member of the working committee of the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) which standardised the interbank and corporate Master Wakalah and Murabahah Agreements for Islamic banks in Malaysia. He also authored “A Guide to the FSA & IFSA 2013” on the Financial Services Act 2013 and Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 which was well received among others by financial institutions, non-banking financial institutions, and development financial institutions, and he also conducts compliance, legal audit and awareness programmes including high level briefings to board of directors and senior management of leading foreign and local financial groups, multinational companies and conglomerates. He also contributes to various articles and books.

He was appointed as an Advisor in January 2015 to a Malaysian statutory body, the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) in relation to “Good Regulatory Practice” (GRP) as propounded by the Government of Malaysia in 2013. Through a Ministerial appointment by the Minister of International Trade and Industry, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) in January 2019. He also contributed to the drafting and reviewing of the New Policy on Good Regulatory Practice (NPGRP) which was launched by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Malaysia on 30th July 2021. In February 2020, through another Ministerial appointment by the Minister of International Trade and Industry, he took up the appointment to the Board of Directors of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). MIDA is the Malaysian government’s principal agency to oversee and drive investment into the manufacturing and services sectors in Malaysia. Incorporated as a statutory body under the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) Act, the establishment of MIDA in 1967 was hailed by the World Bank as “the necessary impetus for purposeful, positive and coordinated promotional action” for Malaysia’s industrial development. Today, MIDA is Malaysia’s cutting-edge, dynamic and pioneering force in opening pathways to new frontiers around the globe. In June 2020, he left MPC to focus on MIDA and when his tenure as a Board of Director of MIDA ended in February 2022, he was tasked by the Board of Directors and Senior Management of MIDA to continue serving MIDA and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) by being the Chairman of a key taskforce under MIDA.

While he was posted in Bangkok, Thailand for a few years, he also served on the Board of Directors of the Malaysia-Thai Chamber of Commerce (MTCC). He was formerly a Director of ZICO Trust Limited (Labuan) (a subsidiary of ZICO Holdings Inc.), and ZICO AA Sdn. Bhd. (a subsidiary and management consultancy arm of ZICO Holdings Inc.), and an Advisor to ASEAN Advisory Pte. Ltd. (a subsidiary and management consultancy arm of ZICO Holdings Inc.). He was also formerly a Director of a company listed on the London Stock Exchange from November 2020 – March 2022. He currently serves as a Parent Governor on the Board of Governors of the Mutiara International Grammar School (MIGS), which the Board of Governors are responsible for the proper governance of MIGS in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act 1996.

Mohd Sofiyuddin was called to the Malaysian Bar in 2002 and commenced his legal career as a litigation lawyer in the firm of Messrs. Amir Yussof & Zol. He subsequently left private practice to pursue a career as the Legal Officer and Company Secretary of Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad (a credit rating agency). Later, he returned to private practice with Messrs. Albar & Partners, during which he was also the company secretary of the Perdana Leadership Foundation, a premier foundation that preserves the work of the past Prime Ministers of Malaysia.

In 2009, he assumed the position of Head of Legal and Alternate Company Secretary of Asian Finance Bank Berhad (a foreign Islamic bank and part of the Qatar Islamic Bank group).

In January 2011, he continued his career in legal practice and joined the Islamic Financial Services Practice of Messrs. Zaid Ibrahim & Co., where in January 2013, he was made a Partner and Head of the Compliance & Governance Practice.

He served as an Executive Partner of ZICOLaw Thailand, and as a Director of ZICO Law Myanmar from 2017-2018 and ZICO Law Thailand from 2017-2020 where he was based full time in Bangkok, Thailand from 2017-2018. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Malaysia-Thai Chamber of Commerce (MTCC) from 2018-2020.

He was also an Advisor and a Director of a Malaysian statutory body, the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC)(Director: January 2019 – June 2020). MPC was formerly known as the National Productivity Corporation and was established in 1962 as a joint project between the United Nations Special Fund and the Malaysian Federal Government, with the International Labour Organisation acting as its executing agency. He also served as a Director of a Malaysian statutory body, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) which is the Malaysian government’s principal agency to oversee and drive investment into the manufacturing and services sectors in Malaysia (Director: February 2020 – February 2022). Both MPC and MIDA are agencies under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).

He was formerly a Director of ZICO Trust Limited (Labuan) (a subsidiary of ZICO Holdings Inc.), and ZICO AA Sdn. Bhd. (a subsidiary and management consultancy arm of ZICO Holdings Inc.), and an Advisor to ASEAN Advisory Pte. Ltd. (a subsidiary and management consultancy arm of ZICO Holdings Inc.). He was also formerly a Director of a company listed on the London Stock Exchange from November 2020 – March 2022.

Mohd Sofiyuddin is currently the Risk Management Partner, and a member of the Executive Committee (Exco) and Management of Zaid Ibrahim & Co. (in association with KPMG Law). He is also the Partner and Head of the Government Public Sector Strategic Advisory Services practice group of Zaid Ibrahim & Co. (in association with KPMG Law). He also serves as a Parent Governor on the Board of Governors of the Mutiara International Grammar School (MIGS).