MAYBANK WANTS TO BOOSTS OPS IN INDONESIA

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 (Bernama) -- Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) wants to
strengthen its operations in Indonesia via Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII),
with plans to have 450 branches and 1,500 automated teller machines by 2012.

President/chief executive officer, Abdul Wahid Omar, said with
the emergence of the Maybank group as a major shareholder, BII was
well-positioned to enhance future earnings and growth.

"We are going to develop BII aggressively between now and 2012 with the
focus on organic growth.

"Obviously, we want to capitalised on our investment bank," he told
reporters after the bank's annual general meeting Wednesday.

Maybank paid RM7.9 billion (US$1=RM3.5) to acquire BII, which was completed
last year.

It currently owns 97.5 per cent of BII.

To date, BII accounted for approximately 20 per cent of Maybank Group’s
total international loan portfolio.

"The target is to improve the key fundamentals, to increase the loans and
gain more revenue rather than going for merger and acquisition exercise," Abdul
Wahid said.

Abdul Wahid said Maybank was also looking at opportunities to expand its
operations in Vietnam, China, Philippines and India.

"The group also aimed to improve the performance of branches in financial
hubs of London, New York and Hong Kong," he said.

Meanwhile, Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor Wednesday took over as
chairman of Maybank from Basir Ahmad.

-- BERNAMA