AMMB Holdings Bhd remains fully committed to driving its banking business (AmBank Group) forward despite its major shareholders looking set to exit the group. The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) is the most substantial shareholder in AmBank Group, holding a 23.78% stake, and provides support in board and senior management representations, risk and financial governance, product offerings and new business developments.
However, ANZ has been restructuring its businesses and is retreating from Asia with a slew of divestments in the region.
Most recently, ANZ said in February that it would close its Laos retail products and services to shift attention to its institutional banking business in the country, after selling its retail businesses in the Philippines and Vietnam.
Last year, it divested its 20% interest in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank and its life insurance business.
In 2016, ANZ sold its retail and wealth management businesses in five markets in Asia, including Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Indonesia, to Singapore’s DBS Bank Ltd.
ANZ has been trying to sell its stake in AMMB since 2016 and talk that ANZ is close to divesting its stake – including to Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) – has been reported many times, but to no avail after AMMB and RHB Bank Bhd scrapped plans for a merger last year.
AMMB group CEO Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said exiting does not mean that the major shareholder (ANZ) is just going to “throw away the business and lose money as a result”, but it wants to sell to a partner who is able to provide it the value that it wants.
“There is the question of finding a new partner. In Malaysia, it is also not so easy to simply dispose of it to anybody that you want out there, because you got to have regulatory approval, consents and requirements,” he told in an interview.
He added that so long as ANZ continues to be a shareholder, it remains active in the participation of AmBank as it also wants the bank to do well.
“They (ANZ) were much involved in my top four strategy in terms of driving the business. Even when we were reviewing the strategy, looking at performance, they (ANZ) were very much involved. We still have two representatives from ANZ on various boards,” said Sulaiman.
Meanwhile, AMMB chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim will be retiring from six entities in the AmBank group in stages over a two-year period announced last year and he has reiterated that he will eventually sell his stake in AMMB. Azman’s indirect interest in AMMB stands at 12.97%.
Sulaiman said Azman built the bank and spent 30-40 years running the business,and he has every intention to make it the best.
“Of course, age catches with him. My intention is he continues to grow the business until one day the business has done so well and you’re ready to leave and of course you’d like to leave it in good hands.
“This is a valuable franchise for him (Azman). And for ANZ, they won’t just walk out at any price. So long as they’re still here, the intention is to continue to drive the business the best it can be.”
Sulaiman said AmBank is growing in all forms, and with the right segments and products, while its digital journey is part of ensuring that it invests in the right kind of businesses.
“They (ANZ and Azman) remain fully committed to driving the business, because no one wants to leave the organisation that you have built for so long and to see it go down the drain. The involvement of Azman and ANZ is as good as it could ever been.
“They also recruited me to make sure I drive the business because they have a view on where and how it should be, what it can possibly be and my job is to make sure I deliver that,” said Sulaiman.
Moving forward, Sulaiman said AmBank will continue to work towards achieving its aspiration to be among the top four banks in the country by 2020. The key growth segments identified are the mass affluent, affluent, small and medium enterprises and mid-corporate, which are on a growth trend.
