PETALING JAYA: Malayan Banking Bhd
’s (Maybank) planned acquisition of the remaining 30.95% interest in Maybank Ageas Holdings Bhd held by Ageas Insurance International NV is expected to strengthen the group’s overall financial performance immediately upon completion.
At present, Maybank owns a 69.05% stake in Maybank Ageas, which is the holding company for the Etiqa businesses in Malaysia and Singapore.
Maybank president and group chief executive, Datuk Seri Khairussaleh Ramli (pic), said the acquisition will see the bank take full ownership of the insurer, thus impacting its earnings, earnings per share and return on equity (ROE) positively.
“For Etiqa’s side, historically, MAHB has been paying a fairly low dividend payout from their profit. And now, by owning 100%, we see an opportunity for alignment of dividend payouts within the insurance group to support Maybank’s capital management and dividend policy,” he said to reporters during the bank’s media briefing yesterday.
He added the proposal was done on a willing buyer-willing seller basis.
“Etiqa has been our partners for 25 years, and they did a good job in growing the business. But we do believe now is the right time for us to move into the next phase of growth.
“We have the experience and capability to do so,” he pointed out.
According to Khairussaleh, the bank hopes to complete the acquisition by the end of this quarter.
“Once we get approval from Bank Negara Malaysia, we will enter into a shareholder’s agreement. Both the boards of Maybank and Etiqa have given their approval,” he said.
The agreed purchase price of the insurance business of RM4.83bil will be funded through a combination of internal and external funding sources.
He said the rationale for this proposition included strengthening Maybank Ageas’ position as a national insurance and takaful champion via a deeper penetration into new and existing customers.
Khairussaleh explained that Etiqa is currently the fourth-largest takaful provider in the world – it is number one in general insurance and general takaful in Malaysia.
Etiqa is also number four in terms of market share for life insurance and family takaful, while in Singapore, the insurer is the second highest when it comes to foreign bank assurance.
Maybank has some 14 million customers in Malaysia and Singapore while Etiqa has about four million.
About 24% of Maybank’s customers are insured with Etiqa, while half are through bank assurance with Maybank.
Additionally, through its ROAR30 regional, the bank will aim at gaining greater flexibility.
“We will continue to pursue our global leadership in both conventional and Islamic finance – as an insurance group we have a presence in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines already.
“Our approach and strategy is to grow the insurance business together with Maybank particularly from the retail, commercial, and corporate banking side,” said Khairussaleh.
Additionally, he said the gross written premiums grew 9.2% from 2023 to 2025.
“We believe in the next five years, within the ROAR30 space, we can grow this up to 15% on a compound annual growth rate.
“We also can increase the bank contribution from about 40% to 50%.
“In terms of profit after tax and minority interests, Maybank Ageas exceeded RM1bil, which is why the ROE has also been elevated,” he noted.
