KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd
(Maybank) has unveiled its new five-year strategy, ROAR30, which will focus on delivering shareholder value through continued improvements in the lender’s return on equity (ROE).
The strategy, which will run until 2030, has specific targets, including an ROE of 13%-14%, a net interest margin (NIM) of more than 2.05%, a cost-to-income ratio of 47% or below, and a current account savings account (Casa) ratio of more than 41%.
President and group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Khairussaleh Ramli said the new strategy has three main pillars, with the first – and “heart” – being to reinforce the lender’s purpose of “humanising financial services.”
The new strategy follows the lender’s completion of its M25+ strategy.
Speaking at a media briefing here yesterday, Khairussaleh said that under ROAR30, Maybank plans to invest RM10bil in technology, 10 times the RM1bil under M25+ as of September 2025.
The RM10bil will be invested in technology, data, and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives to strengthen and scale long-term growth beyond 2030, he said.
He added that Maybank will likely introduce a new application (app) to leapfrog its digital capabilities, with the app eventually replacing its current MAE app.
“We have started development (of the new app) and hopefully we can update you on this throughout the course of the year. We think it should happen sooner rather than later,” he said.
While ramping up tech investments, the bank also plans to optimise costs at the same time, Khairussaleh said.
“Some of the key areas we are looking at in order to optimise cost is productivity (and) the composition of our workforce. We also want to look at better strategic procurement capabilities.”
Asked about competition from local digital banks, Khairussaleh said the lender – the largest in the country by asset size – does not take any form of competition for granted. “The most important for us is to stay close to our customers.”
He said while the bank saw some competition in the early days of digital banks, particularly in deposit flows, the rates offered by these players have since come off to more “rational levels”.
Elaborating on NIMs, he noted that while margins had contracted over the past few quarters, the lender had bucked the trend.
“We bucked the trend in the last quarter on a quarter-on-quarter basis, and we believe this can continue,” he said.
As of September 2025, Maybank’s NIM stood at 2.03%, and the bank has guided for a full-year NIM of 2.03% for 2025.
It will announce its full-year fiscal results next month.
Elaborating on ROAR30, Khairussaleh said that with the growth of the wealth segment, rising trade and investment flows into the Asean region, and increasing global demand for Islamic finance, Maybank aims to capitalise on the region’s growing prominence and large addressable market.
“Against this backdrop, the second strategic pillar focuses on growing four businesses at scale –global Islamic finance, regional wealth management, regional transactions and payments, and regional corporate and investment (banking),” he said.
Finally, the third pillar aims to build a Maybank to last in the long term, with a focus on further strengthening its foundations across three core areas: cultivating an “enviable” workforce, culture and organisation; harnessing the full potential of technology, data and AI; and optimising productivity and capital allocation to drive performance.
Moving forward, Khairussaleh said Maybank’s home markets of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore will continue to be key drivers of growth and profitability through their respective offerings.
Under M25+, Maybank recorded a steady rise in profitability, with its compounded annual growth rate improving by 8% and net profit reaching RM7.8bil for the first nine months of its financial year ended Dec 31, 2025 (9M25).
ROE stood at 11.5% for the same period, its highest level since 2016, according to a statement released yesterday.
Maybank delivered a cumulative total shareholder return of 56.1% from 2022 to Jan 19, 2025, owing to commendable progress from its M25+ supergrowth segments, namely wealth management, global Islamic leadership, mid-market, global market foreign-exchange sales, cash management, investment banking and insurance, it said.
Khairussaleh also said Maybank surpassed all four of its sustainability commitments, including mobilising RM156.32bil in sustainable finance, improving the lives of 2.62 million households across Asean, achieving a 57.7% reduction in carbon emissions, and recording 1.7 million sustainability hours as of 9M25.
