Maybank Projects Better Financial Performance For 2017

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 (Bernama) -- Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) projected better financial performance in the key markets of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia and improvement in global sectors this year. President/Chief Executive Officer, Abdul Farid Alias, said Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) were expected to increase by 4.4 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 5.1 per cent this year, from 4.2 per cent, two per cent and five per cent last year, respectively. "On the GDP growth in the three key markets, we expect our loans and deposit growth to be between six and seven per cent while return on equity is expected to be between 10 and 11 per cent this year. "There are also signs of stability in the global commodities price," he told reporters at a briefing on the bank's Financial Year 2016 Results here Thursday. Abdul Farid said Maybank was also focusing on improving its fee-based income from their services and from its digital platform, Maybank2u (M2U). "Obviously, the charges in M2U will not be big. As we move forward, there will be more volume and hopefully it will provide a stable fee-based income for Maybank," he said. Last year, fee-based income contributed almost 30 per cent to the bank's revenue while about RM250 billion worth of transaction was done through the M2U platform. He said Maybank would also focus on wider cross-selling initiatives, sharpen margin and segment focus and manage net interest margin compression. Meanwhile, Chairman Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor said the bank saw infrastructure segment as a growth opportunity in the region. "The emphasise will be in the infrastructure segment that will be the key driver for the regional economy," he said. For the financial year ended Dec 31 2016 (FY16), Maybank's pre-tax profit declined to RM8.84 billion from RM9.15 billion in financial year 2015 (FY15). Revenue, however, rose to RM44.66 billion from RM40.56 billion in FY2015. Maybank is the fourth largest bank in Association of South-East Asian Nations in terms of assets. -- BERNAMA