Maybank group president & CEO Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said that notwithstanding the volatility in the current operating environment, the group will continue to ride on the growing economy to strengthen its banking business as well as fulfil its growth strategy.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd
(Maybank) is planning to disburse about RM50bil in mortgages and RM35bil in loans to the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector over the next three years.
The country's largest bank by assets had disbursed RM12.2bil housing loans last year, which is part of its total disbursed mortgages of RM87.5bil as at Dec 31, 2018.
Group president and CEO Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said on Thursday that amount is part of the bank’s total loans of RM500bil globally.
“There was a question may be out of curiosity, maybe unsure of banks and how banks perform at this day and age.
“So, there was a statement with respect to whether we are supporting the economy. We just want to prove that point,” he told a press conference after the AGM here.
Farid added the approval rate for eligible applicants was 80% as at March 31 as compared to the industry average of 70%.
The total book for SMEs is about RM41.1bil, comprising RM24bil for business banking and RM17.1bil for retail SMEs.
Farid also said that to support Maybank’s continued growth, five priority areas have been identified for this year namely, driving income growth, ensuring better productivity, managing asset quality, sound liquidity & capital management as well as digitalisation.
“We will look to expand revenue streams through business collaborations as well as expand our balance sheet in a measured manner in line with economic growths in our respective markets as well as our conservative risk posture,” he explained. “Protecting our margins via selective asset growth will be a key focus in this regard.”
The group, he said, will also drive positive JAWs across all business segments to achieve a cost-to-income ratio of around 47%, while emphasising on up-skilling employees for the digital economy.
At the same time, he added Maybank will maintain its robust risk management practices as well as on-going recovery efforts to ensure that asset quality remain sound.
“Liquidity is another key area that we will emphasise as it provides us a solid foundation to withstand external headwinds. In line with this, we will prioritise maintaining stable liquidity risk indicators, especially in view of the impending NSFR adoption effective 2020,” he explained.
“Added to this will be ensuring a robust capital position – something that we have already been doing well over the years, and which has placed us among the best capitalised banks in the region.”
On digitalisation, Farid said the group will maintain a conservative yet impactful investment spend to effectively deliver improved customer experience through the roll-out of new digital products and services.
“This will be complemented by concerted efforts across all levels within Maybank to enhance the use of data driven analytics so that we can understand customers’ behaviour and needs better to effectively serve them as their Digital Bank of Choice.”
“In fact, with the advancement in data analytics and science, not only can we create models to serve our customers better, but also improve our risk modelling capabilities,” he explained.
“Ultimately they can help us determine the group’s optimal balance sheet structure, identify the right pricing of our assets and liabilities to maximise risk returns whilst ensuring effective liquidity utilisation.”
Meanwhile, Maybank chairman Datuk Mohaiyani Shamsudin said the group will ensure that it continues to create sustainable value for its stakeholders in a rapidly changing operating landscape.
The board’s main priority will be to drive a business strategy that will enable long-term value creation for all stakeholders, she said.
“While we achieved a record FY2018 with a 7.9% increase in net profit to RM8.11bil, our aim is to ensure that we remain well equipped to withstand any economic headwinds that may arise in the coming year,” she said.
“Hence, in addition to focusing on business and operational efficiency as a foundation, we want to drive Maybank’s sustainability agenda by enhancing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations within the group,” she said.
"These include integrating ESG considerations into our core businesses by focusing on impact based solutions as well as empowering communities across the region where the group is present.”
Mohaiyani said other aspects that the group will look into will be to strengthen and institutionalise the compliance culture across its entire operations as well as ensure robust succession planning to prepare for its long-term requirements.
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