KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Equities Research remains Neutral on Malaysian banks given the risk of slower loan growth in 2014 though margin contraction could be milder while it keeps RHB Capital as its top pick.
It said on Monday that based on its industry source that there could soon be a new regulatory ruling which requires banks to maintain a minimum collective assessment (CA) plus regulatory reserve ratio of 1.2% over total loans (excluding government loans and net of individual assessment provisions) from end-December 2015 onwards.