About the CEO | Asian Banking School

Professor Dr David Colyn Gardner is the Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Banking School. He has had a long illustrious career entirely immersed in banking. First as a practising and successful banker, then as a corporate client of banks through his public listed company and Chairman roles, as a leading banking consultant, as a professor of banking, a successful Conference Speaker on banking matters and an innovative developer of banking training courses.

Having worked for several banks in the UK, Colyn went on to set up his own banking training consultancy firm, DC Gardner Group plc; the largest in the world with offices in London, New York, Sydney, Amsterdam, Singapore and other locations when it listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1988. In 1992, he sold the business by which time it had grown to include three residential training centres, the UK’s largest outplacement consultancy, Coutts Consultancy Group; and the UK’s 2nd largest accountancy training business, ATC. He has also been the Founder and Chairman of two other public listed companies.

HAVING WORKED FOR SEVERAL BANKS IN THE UK, COLYN WENT ON TO SET UP HIS OWN BANKING TRAINING CONSULTANCY FIRM, DC GARDNER GROUP PLC; THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD WITH OFFICES IN LONDON, NEW YORK, SYDNEY, AMSTERDAM, SINGAPORE AND OTHER LOCATIONS WHEN IT LISTED ON THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE IN 1988.

Colyn has conducted executive development programmes for senior directors of leading global banks, presented at international banking conferences and was a consultant to many of the world's largest banks and organisations including the World Bank, the IMF, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and Central Bank of Nigeria. Colyn was also a regular contributor of articles to international financial magazines on banking training and executive development subjects, editor-in-chief for some sixty distance learning workbooks on banking subjects and has co-authored two books: Sources of Corporate Finance in Western Europe and Europe’s Short-term Money Markets, with James Maycock, Director of the Institute of European Finance.

As an academic, Colyn was Professor and CEO of the Management Centre at Bangor Business School, the No. 1 Business School in the UK and Europe’s No.1 ranked Banking and Finance Faculty, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Sunway University Business School, and Visiting Professor at Cass Business School, City University London in the UK, which is ranked in the top one percent of business schools worldwide. He is also a Council Member of Bank Negara Malaysia’s Financial Services Talent Council, a high level think tank charged with developing human resource talent for the financial services industry in Malaysia.

Colyn has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wales, Swansea, and received both his Master of Science in Financial Economics and Doctor of Philosophy in Corporate Finance (specialising in behavioural decision making in capital investment theory) from the University of North Wales, Bangor. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Fellow of the London Institute of Banking and Finance, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Honorary Fellow of Bangor University and Visiting Professor at Cass Business School, City University London in the UK.