SHIFTING FOCUS: Group wants to capitalise on the republic’s huge corporate banking segment
MALAYAN Banking Bhd (Maybank), the fourth-largest banking group in the Asean region, aims to grow its business in Singapore by capitalising on the country’s huge corporate banking segment.
Its president and chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said some 66 per cent of the banking business in Singapore comprises corporate financing, while the retail segment makes
up the remaining.
“This is unlike in Malaysia, which has a 50:50 ratio of corporate and retail segments in the banking sector,” he said in an interview, here, recently.
“For the longest time, we have been managing our business in Singapore with 50-50 contribution from both segments. But things changed last year.”
Farid said Singapore’s corporate banking sector continued to show strong growth last year despite new measures introduced by the government to cool down property prices, which affected the consumer banking segment.
This situation has led to Maybank shifting its focus and expanding in the corporate banking segment to some 60 per cent from 50 per cent previously.
“As a whole, our business in Singapore reflects the portfolio we see in other major banks in the country, which manage about twothirds of corporate financing and one-third of consumer financing.
“The beauty about Singapore is that the country responds very fast to market circumstances. Our team there, too, responded quickly to the new government measures and managed to address the situation successfully,” he added.
Following that, Farid said Maybank Singapore has also been receiving growing interest from corporate clients, citing its quick services, especially in providing effective business turnaround plans.
“For loans indication in Southeast Asia and Singapore, we are in the league table, which indicates that we are doing the right thing from the profitability perspective.”
Farid said the bank needs to look at its Singapore operations as a whole Maybank institution rather than just a commercial bank, which is one portion of the business.
He said Maybank Singapore, which is headed by CEO Datuk Lim Hong Tat, needs to strengthen all its businesses, including investment banking and insurance, as one large entity.
“If we can do this successfully, we can replicate the kind of returns we get in Malaysia,” he added.
Growing Maybank Singapore ops
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