(From left) Maybank chairman, Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor; CEO of Maybank International, Pollie Sim; Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar U Set Aung; Deputy Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia, Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim; Malaysian Ambassador to Myanmar, Mohd Haniff Abdul Rahman; CEO of Maybank IndoChina, Soon Su Long and General Manager of Maybank Yangon Branch, Abdul Malek Mohd Khair at the launch of Maybank Yangon.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd
has officially launched its Myanmar operations to offer transaction banking, corporate lending and treasury services.
It said on Monday this was part of its objective to establish itself as a leading cross-border bank in Myanmar.
The Maybank Yangon branch, which has a registered capital of US$75mil (RM330mil), was officiated by the Myanmar Central Bank deputy governor U Set Aung and Bank Negara Malaysia deputy governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim.
Also present at the event were Maybank chairman Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor, Maybank International CEO Pollie Sim, Myanmar Energy Minister U Zar Yar Aung and Malaysian Ambassador to Myanmar Mohd Haniff Abdul Rahman.
Megat Zaharuddin, had in his speech, said Maybank had always believed in Myanmar and the region’s potential.
“We have been present in Myanmar for the last 20 over years and have extensive network in all 10 Asean countries.
“In anticipation of the formalisation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC), we have focused our efforts in the past few years to building up our capabilities to serve the enlarged communities of 600 million people,” he added.
He also said AEC, which would come into force at end-2015, would change the economic landscape in Asia.
“With the harmonisation and integration of the flow of goods, services, people and capital, there will be plenty of opportunities across the region.
“Myanmar’s intrinsic advantage of its strategic location at the heart of Asia, backed by rich endowments of natural resources and supported by a growing labour force, creates an unprecedented growth potential to accelerate development,” he said.
Maybank is one of the top four banking groups in market values and assets in Asean.
“These positions give us strengths to offer cross-border banking solutions and support our aim to become a financial solutions gateway for multinational clients from across our global network including Asean and Greater China, which have business and investment dealings in Myanmar,” Megat Zaharuddin said.
Meanwhile, Sim said Maybank was in a unique position to offer cross-border banking solutions by leveraging the Group’s expertise and extensive reach.
“Our focus will be on supporting wholesale and corporate clients as well as domestic banks in Myanmar with services such as deposit accounts, working capital financing, transaction banking, cash management, treasury and capital market solutions,” she said.
Sim explained Maybank would be able to offer clients in Myanmar a comprehensive range of end-to-end wholesale banking solutions that would also include advisory services, balance sheet financing and/or distribution, trade financing, as well as solutions to manage forex and interest rate risks.
She added Maybank would leverage on its expertise in financing of power, utilities, oil and gas as well as the telecommunications sectors, which are also priority growth areas for Myanmar.
“We are well positioned to bring our experience and industry expertise to the table to develop project financing structures, or help raise capital via regional equity or debt markets. We will also be able to leverage our balance sheet and offshore financing capabilities to finance large scale projects and/or distribute them across our network,” she said.
Pollie noted Myanmar is a fast emerging nation with a target economic growth of 9.3% for 2015, driven by an unprecedented amount of foreign investment and rapid expansion in its nascent telecoms sector.
“Myanmar’s economy has undergone a major transformation since 2012 and is now luring foreign direct investment (FDI) on a larger scale. For 2014/2015, the country received US$8.1bil in FDI which was 25 times higher compared with the US$329.6mil received in 2009/2010,” she noted.
That is expected to drive growth in the consumer sector as well as demand for financial services in Myanmar.
“We expect that within the next five years, lending and transaction banking will be major contributors to the revenue of our Myanmar operations.
“Lending will be driven mainly by working capital financing and transaction banking by Myanmar’s growing international trade and demand for cash management, especially as projects are completed and operationalised,” Sim said.
Maybank had been playing a significant role in supporting the development of Myanmar’s financial services industry ever since it started a representative office there in 1994, she added.
“We have hosted various training sessions for Myanmar banks to share our knowledge in banking and finance and we will continue to do so, especially across four key areas - namely interbank and capital market, international trade and capability building,” she said.
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