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Tag: bank

  • Vietnamese banks find out car loans not low-hanging fruit

    Vietnamese banks find out car loans not low-hanging fruit

    Vietnamese banks are struggling to recover overdue car loans since many customers mortgage vehicles bought using bank loans. Dao Minh Tuan, manager of the debt recovery department at private lender Vietnam International Bank (VIB), said 50 percent of non-performing car loans are because of this.

    Borrowers are supposed to get the bank’s permission before pawning a car, but most don’t, which makes it difficult for the bank to repossess the car, he said.

    “Pawn shop owners decline to meet our staff while our customers are unreachable. As the banks do not technically own the car, we have trouble recovering the debt.”

    Since banks normally lend 80-100 percent of the cost of a car, getting the cars back by paying off pawnbrokers would cost too much, he said.

    “The last resort would be to sue the customer, but this will take a long time and cause damage to both sides.”

    Banks also have to pay a commission to car dealers of 0.7-1 percent and offer competitive interest rates of 7-9 percent in the first year. All this means, in a competitive, crowded segment, banks are unable to earn much.

    A banking expert who asked not to be named said: “Banks which want to maintain high credit growth often focus on increasing the amount of car loans, not quality.”

    Those focused on this segment are usually banks which are not competitive in other areas with higher interest rates, such as real estate, the expert said.

    The auto loans segment has seen average growth of 38 percent in 2012-2016, according to data from Viet Capital Securities VCSC.

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  • Millennials in Singapore eshew power and famefor self-fulfillment and caring for the community

    Millennials in Singapore eshew power and famefor self-fulfillment and caring for the community

    The majority of Singapore millennials are extremely passionate about social causes such as human rights, poverty and helping the elderly, and prefer to gain life experiences when they have the financial means, rather than physical possessions.

    These key insights of millennials were revealed in the inaugural annual FRANK by OCBC survey, the FRANKly Asked Questions, which aims to understand and track four psychographic variables – values, attitudes, interests and desired experiences – of millennials over time. Conducted between January and February 2019, 866 students and young working adults aged 16 to 29 years old were asked a total of 50 questions in an online survey. Forty-five per cent of the respondents were students from all Singapore universities and polytechnics.¹

    An integrated banking programme for millennials in Singapore

    OCBC Bank created the FRANK by OCBC banking programme in 2011. It remains the only programme which provides millennials with banking products and solutions designed for them as they go through milestones in life as tertiary students, to entering the workforce as young professionals. FRANK by OCBC offers millennials deposit accounts, credit and debit cards, insurance, investment products and study loans. The other programme activities in place today include:

    • Financial literacy seminars organised regularly for FRANK by OCBC customers to learn how to invest and manage their finances
    • Helping youths give back to the community

    o   Organising youth dives to clean up the reefs of plastic waste

    o   Supporting campus programmes such as at Prinsep Street Residences, where SMU students organise overseas Community Involvement Programmes and programmes to support the elderly in the Bras Basah area

    • Helping youths prepare for future careers

    o   FRANKpreneurship – learning human-centred design and start-up business principles as they are mentored by The Open Vault at OCBC and different teams in OCBC Bank to tackle real banking challenges

    Insights from the FRANKly Asked Questions survey will help FRANK by OCBC develop more comprehensive programmes on financial literacy and beyond to meet millennials’ holistic needs. They will include:

    • Helping youths to build their wealth

    o   Looking to introduce new investment and insurance products which will be affordable for youths

    o   Organising financial seminars with partners such as SGX to learn the basics of investing

    • Helping youths to raise awareness of environmental issues

    o   Supporting #noplastics initiatives by distributing reusable tote bags at the NUS FRANK store and Cheers and FairPrice outlets at NUS

    Mr Dennis Tan, OCBC Bank’s Head of Consumer Financial Services Singapore, said: “The ‘FRANKly Asked Questions’ is the first FRANK by OCBC survey that we will be conducting annually. The survey has revealed insights into the psyche of millennials today and the values and attitudes they hold dear. In addition to the deep and rich insights that we already have from banking with one in two youths in Singapore, this enables us to tailor products and services that they will find useful at every stage of their lives and help achieve their aspirations.”

    Key Insights from FRANKly Asked Questions (see attached slides)

    Youths are motivated to discover their inner selves, care for their family and society, and are less likely to be materialistic in nature

    o   86% of millennials are motivated to understand their inner selves, compared to being famous (32%)

    o   3 in 4 millennials are concerned about their parents’ finances for retirement, and find it important to help others

    o   Less than half of millennials want to gain physical possessions when they have the money

    They understand the importance of a well-rounded education, value work-life balance at the workplace, and are practical

    o   82% of millennials feel that internships and working experience is crucial; 73% agree that getting a degree is a necessity

    o   Work-life balance is their top consideration for an ideal job

    o   83% of millennials want to secure a job with regular income, rather than start a family (46%) or start a business (37%)

    o   70% of millennials will only consider marriage once their career is stable

    They are generally positive in their financial attitudes, but more could be done to keep them informed and educated about investments and insurance

    o   41% of millennials struggle to stick to their saving plan

    o   While 69% of millennials want to start buying insurance policies and 71% want to start investing, less than half of millennials consider themselves knowledgeable about insurance and investments

    They are interested in bigger societal issues and new technologies, but are less interested in entrepreneurship and freelancing

    o   The top 5 most important social causes millennials care about are human rights (82%), poverty (81%), the environment (79%), helping the elderly (79%) and mental health awareness (79%)

    o   Millennials are more excited about the Internet of Things (73%) and Artificial Intelligence (62%) than going cashless (59%) or self-driving cars (57%)

    o   Less than half of millennials are interested in starting a business in the next five years, or being a freelancer

    They value gaining life experiences to value-add to themselves, and are constantly seeking to broaden their horizons and skillsets

    o   82% of millennials say gaining life experiences will be a priority when they have the financial means

    o   82% want to maintain relevant skillsets, which is their top motivation for pursuing higher education

    o   76% like to try new and different things, and half of them often try out new and trendy restaurants

    New ‘borderless’ FRANK Store at NUS

    The survey comes on the heels of the opening of the fourth and newest FRANK by OCBC Store at the National University of Singapore (NUS) last month. Taking over the space at the Stephen Riady Centre at University Town (UTown), which was previously a sports shop, OCBC Bank won a public tender for the space by offering to build a bank branch to offer students an essential service, and at the same time, add vibrancy to UTown through the creative design and use of the space. Occupying an area of 947 square feet, the FRANK by OCBC Store at NUS is a testament to the deep knowledge and insights FRANK by OCBC boasts in understanding the interests of millennials and integrating banking and financial literacy into their lives to make it accessible and relatable. The new FRANK by OCBC Store integrates features that are desired by millennials – borderless and digital interactions, environmental sustainability and a casual setting for banking.

    Like all other FRANK by OCBC Stores, the Store at NUS is designed differently from a traditional bank branch, making it attractive for students to come into the Store to take their time to browse and ask questions about banking products and services, play games or catch up with their friends over coffee.

    The new Store at NUS is Singapore’s first borderless and open-concept bank branch that does not utilise shutters or barriers after operating hours, and has no teller counters.

    Students interact with banking staff – known as FRANK Ambassadors – at the store’s collaboration areas, and can access the store round-the-clock to study or to get snacks at the cashless vending machine using the OCBC Pay Anyone mobile payments app. A ‘Future of Banking Zone’ highlights new mobile and Internet banking features on the latest iPads and iPhones, and enables students to try out digital banking services, including interacting with chatbot ‘Emma’ about study loans.

    The other FRANK by OCBC stores are located at Singapore Management University, Nanyang Technological University and orchardgateway mall.

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  • Google’s mobile payment service expands to more banks

    Google’s mobile payment service expands to more banks

    If you’re anxious to use Google Pay, but can’t because your bank doesn’t yet support the mobile payment service, you’ll be happy to know that Google is working hard to bring the product to as many consumers as possible. At least in the United States.

    We’re back with the monthly list of banks and credit unions that are about to receive Google Pay support, and this time there are only 15 of them. If your bank is among them, but you still can’t use the service, then give a few days. Without further ado, here is the full list of banks and financial institutions that should now offer Google Pay support.

    American State Bank & Trust Company, Commercial Bank, Community First Bank of Indiana, First National Bank of Paragould, Generations Bank (AR), Generations Bank (NY), Greensboro Municipal Federal Credit Union, Harvard State Bank, Heartland State Bank, Minnesota National Bank, People’s Bank of Commerce, PrimeWay Federal Credit Union, Spring Bank, Tampa State Bank, Walden Savings Bank, and Zellco Federal Credit Union.

    To find out if your bank or card works for in-store purchases with Google Pay on your phone, you should check out the full list from the service’s support site.

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  • KResearch revises downward its 2019 economic projection to 3.7 percent

    KResearch revises downward its 2019 economic projection to 3.7 percent

    KResearch held a panel discussion on “Measuring the Thai Economic Temperature after Election” on Tuesday April 2, 2019. According to KResearch poll conducted among members of the general public and the business sector before and after the election, it was found that the election has given a boost to confidence. Nevertheless, close attention should be paid to the formation of the new government which may influence the confidence.

    Ms. Nattaporn Triratanasirikul, KResearch Assistant Managing Director, holds the view that, “No matter how the government is formed, Thailand will be challenged by the global economic slowdown which will, in turn, affect its exports. The new government has to expedite the implementation of economic stimulus policies under the FY2019 budget, including the passing of the FY2020 budget bill. If the new government can be formed within June 2019 and the economic stimuli can be implemented as expected, household consumption will be boosted by 0.2-0.4 percent of GDP, and the Thai economy in 2H19 will be brighter than in 1H19.”

    However, KResearch has revised downward its growth forecast for the 2019 Thai economy to 3.7 percent, or within a band of 3.2-3.9 percent, from the 4.0 percent pace before. The new economic growth projection reflects an expected slowdown in Thai exports resulting from the economic downturn in Thailand’s key trade partners despite better-than-expected improvements seen in the US-China trade dispute. KResearch has also cut its export growth projection for 2019 to 3.2 percent from previously 4.5 percent, and its 2019 import growth forecast to 4.3 percent from 5.3 percent.

    For the outlook of domestic interest rates, Ms. Nattaporn expects the policy rate to be kept at the 1.75 percent throughout this year. High liquidity in local commercial banks and the banks’ approach to gradually approve loans currently should not intensify the competition in the commercial banks’ interest rates. As for the movement of Thai Baht, KResearch forecasts that the Thai Baht will weaken and move within the range of THB31.20-32.50 per dollar.  Factors deserve close attention are domestic issues, especially, political and economic situations.

  • OCBC Forms Committee to Ensure Responsible Banking

    OCBC Forms Committee to Ensure Responsible Banking

    The bank’s new ethics and conduct board committee wants to ensure that the group’s core values of trust and integrity continue to anchor the way it conducts its business.

    OCBC Bank has formed an ethics and conduct board committee, which is chaired by OCBC chairman Ooi Sang Kuang and includes directors Lee Tih Shih and Christina Ong, according to a news release on Thursday.

    While the industry is seeing ethics and compliance as an area of greater concern, the committee, which provides oversight of the group’s policies, guidelines, and programmes, is a first among Singapore banks.

    Laying Out Standards

    It held its first meeting on Wednesday, laying out expectations and standards for the group’s 29,000 employees as it aims to «sustain and grow a strong culture of responsible banking and fair dealing» and ensure that responsible banking is rigorously enforced across the whole OCBC group, the bank said.

    In the last decade, there have been several high-profile examples of questionable conduct by financial institutions. These examples span the globe and the misconduct ranges from extreme over-leveraging to violating international sanctions, tax fraud, and money laundering. The misconduct stems mostly from an imbalance between the pursuit of financial goals and responsible banking, Ooi said.

    Transforming Rapidly

    The banking industry is transforming rapidly due to technological advancements, and customers’ expectations have also changed. However, what has not changed is that our customers still expect us to be utterly worthy of their trust. That is why amid so much change in the banking industry, our underlying values of integrity and honesty must never change, Ooi added.

    The ethics committee also oversees a new culture and conduct committee, chaired by group chief executive Samuel Tsien. The committee will implement initiatives to enhance existing policies and programmes on ethics and conduct, as well as roll out new ones to strengthen these values among all the group’s employees.

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  • Deutsche Bank Appoints Head of Thailand

    Deutsche Bank Appoints Head of Thailand

    The German lender hires a new head from Siam Commercial Bank to fill the position left vacant since 2018. Deutsche Bank (DB) will get a new head for its Thailand operations in May, with the appointment of Pimolpa Suntichok as chief country officer and head of the financing and solutions group for Thailand, according to people close to the matter.

    Suntichok fills a position left by Phumchai Kambhato, who left the bank in 2018. She will report to Werner Steinmueller in her country management capacity and to Sreenivasan Iyer for her FSG responsibilities.

    Suntichok was previously the Senior Executive Vice President serving as the Head of Commercial Banking Solutions at Siam Commericial Bank, Thailand’s largest commercial bank. She brings over 20 years of experience in banking, having worked at Bangkok Bank, Jardine Fleming Thanakom Securities, Fitch Ratings (Thailand), and Standard Chartered Bank (Thailand). She joined SCB in 2008 to lead the structured finance practice for the Capital Markets Division and became the Head of Corporate Segment in 2015 and the Head of MultiCorporate Segment in 2016, according to SCB’s website.

    Future Uncertainty 

    Deutsche Bank in recent months has seen a raft of departures in Asia, including Southeast Asia Vice Chairman Philip Lee, Jakarta-based managing director Kunardy Lie, and North Asia COO

    Katherine Lai.

    DB, on its third CEO in four years, has in recent years scaled down its Asian operations as its focus has shifted towards Europe amid difficulties in the region. However, Thailand remains an important market for DB in Asia-Pacific, with the bank having a 40-year history in the country.

    The bank is currently in the midst of merger discussions with Commerzbank, which has cast uncertainty over Deutsche’s general strategy for the future.

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  • Former ANZ employee to stand trial in million dollar fraud case

    Former ANZ employee to stand trial in million dollar fraud case

    A former ANZ Bank employee will be tried for allegedly falsifying customers’ signatures and misappropriating over VND91.3 billion ($4 million). Ho Chi Minh prosecutors have submitted to the court an indictment against Nguyen Pham Gia Tho, a former employee of ANZ, and his sister-in-law Nguyen Tuong Vi, director of an agricultural product export/import company, for appropriating property through fraud.

    According to the indictment, in 2015, Tho was head of customer relations at ANZ’s South Saigon branch in District 7 and was tasked with mobilizing savings deposits, providing insurance sales advice and proposing mortgages.

    During his time, he allegedly falsified signatures of customers with saving accounts to register for internet banking service and then transferred their money into his or his relatives’ accounts. Specifically, in early 2016, Tho was asked by a customer named Mai to help manage her bonds worth VND3 billion ($130,000) with securities firm VPBS. Abusing her trust, he falsified six contracts to mortgage the bonds and secure loans from VPBS.

    Tho asked his mother to impersonate Mai and register for internet banking service, then transferred the VND3 billion to her account so that he could withdraw from it. In July 2017, to have money for a fruit trading business with his sister-in-law Vi, Tho falsified signatures of several ANZ customers to open joint bank accounts in their names and one of his relatives.

    He then falsified documents to secure loans from the bank for the joint accounts before appropriating the money by transferring them into Vi’s and his own accounts. In total, Tho was determined to have misappropriated a total of VND91.3 billion (nearly $4 million), with Vi an accomplice in the misappropriation of over VND80 billion of this money. The relatives of Tho and Vi, whose identities were used to open the joint accounts, will not be prosecuted as investigators concluded they were unaware of the fraud and did not benefit from it.

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  • DBS Poaches Wealth Planning Head from Bank of Singapore

    DBS Poaches Wealth Planning Head from Bank of Singapore

    His key responsibilities include driving the expansion of the bank’s wealth planning, family office and insurance offerings, and providing holistic solutions and advisory for high net worth families.

    DBS Bank on Friday has appointed Lee Woon Shiu as Head of Wealth Planning, Family Office and Insurance Solutions at its private bank, it said in a press release on Friday.

    Lee is an industry veteran with more than 20 years’ of experience in advising numerous ultra-high net worth families in Asia-Pacific on wealth planning as well as the establishment and implementation of family governance and philanthropy strategies. He joins DBS from Bank of Singapore, the private banking arm of OCBC Bank, where he has worked since 2004. Most recently, he held the position of Head of Wealth Planning, Trust and Insurance.

    «With Asia at the cusp of a significant intergenerational wealth transfer, we are committed to being our clients’ partner of choice as we help to grow, manage and protect their family’s assets and legacy over time,» Sim S. Lim, Group Head of Consumer Banking & Wealth Management, DBS Bank, said.

    Outside the office, Lee is an adjunct professor at Nanyang Technological University’s Wealth Management Institute (WMI), and has been appointed Expert Panel Member of WMI to provide guidance to the institute and its faculty in developing new IBF standards and curriculum for wealth planning. He is also an Advocate & Solicitor of Singapore, a Solicitor of England & Wales and an accredited Trust & Estate Practitioner under the International Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

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  • UOB Prices First Panda Bond

    UOB Prices First Panda Bond

    United Overseas Bank announced it has priced Singapore’s first Panda Bond at 3.49 percent, one of the lowest rates among all Panda bonds. The Singapore based lender UOB said that its three-year, 2 billion renminbi (S$404 million) offering garnered strong demand with a subscription rate of 2.7 times from asset managers and commercial bank investors across Asia. Thirty-eight percent was placed to China’s onshore investors and 62 percent to international offshore investors.

    «Our participation in China’s onshore debt market, one of the largest globally, enables us to grow our presence in China as the country continues to liberalize the renminbi and its financial markets. Further, through this offering, we can diversify our funding sources and continue to tap the increased connectivity between China and ASEAN arising from the Belt and Road Initiative to serve our customers’ needs,» said Wee Ee Cheong, CEO of UOB, said in a media statement.

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  • UOB Hires New Managing Director

    UOB Hires New Managing Director

    United Overseas Bank recently hired a regional head of engagement to expand its digital team in SingaporeIndustry veteran Kristina Curtis joined UOB two months . ago as managing director, regional head of engagement, group retail digital. Her LinkedIn profile shows extensive experience in digital banking, having worked for ANZ as customer analytics and digital for global wealth, and for BT financial group as chief digital officer.

    When contacted, the bank declined to comment on the personnel move.

    Experience in digital banking

    The demand for people who have leadership and project management experience in digital banking is high in Singapore as banks are pushing to launch new digital platforms in areas of payment and wealth management.

    The ability to leverage on mobile application and new technologies to build an effective communication pathway with the customers and allow for continuous engagement is increasingly valued, evident from the fact that Curtis is not the only recent senior digital.

    Last October, UOB officially appointed Aaron Chia, formerly from Western Union, as the new head of its digital plus unit for wealth and lifestyle products.

  • All Vietnamese commercial banks to be listed before 2020

    All Vietnamese commercial banks to be listed before 2020

    A Prime Minister approved plan requires all commercial joint stock banks to be listed before 2020 towards increased transparency and diversity. This is one of a series of solutions set out in the scheme to “Restructure the stock market and insurance market by 2020 with orientation towards 2025” approved by the Prime Minister late last month.

    Accordingly, commercial banks are required to list on any of Vietnam’s three official stock exchanges – the Ho Chi Minh Stock exchange (HOSE), Vietnam’s main exchange which accounts for over 90 percent of total market capitalization; the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), which houses remaining listed companies; and the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM), which is set up to encourage unlisted public firms to participate in the securities market so that they can later transfer to one of the two main stock markets.

    Currently, only 17 of 31 banks are registered for trading on all three floors.

    The Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to supervise and direct banks on listing, securitizing debts, provision of required services for derivatives trading, as well as monitor domestic and capital sources on the market.

    Last year, PM lauded Vietnam’s stock market for outperforming other Southeast Asian nations in capital mobilization, with a market cap of 72 percent of GDP at the end of 2-10.

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  • Card-not-present fraud will cost retailers US$130 billion

    Card-not-present fraud will cost retailers US$130 billion

    Increasingly complex card-not-present fraud will cost retailers US$130 billion globally in digital sales over the next five years. A Juniper Research study predicts that retailers’ slow pace in keeping up with new fraud prevention requirements will allow cybercriminal practices to become more widespread as more and more consumers shop online. It observes that established point-of-sale vendors will need to move towards mobile POS technology in order to expand their reach into fresh markets and reduce their exposure to card-not-present fraud.

    “A layered fraud detection and prevention (FDP) solution naturally helps directly preventing fraud, but it also offers major gains in terms of recovering potentially lost revenue through false positives,” said the report’s author Steffen Sorrell. “This is something about which retailers remain undereducated, and has allowed fraudsters to capitalise on relatively low FDP spend”.

    An implication of the Juniper research is that a low understanding of FDP investment return is causing the low uptake of the technology. the report anticipates digital payment players will be spending $9.6 billion annually on FDP solutions by 2023.

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  • Telstra to trial 5G in banking sector

    Telstra to trial 5G in banking sector

    Australia’s Telstra has used this week’s Mobile World Congress to announce a partnership with Commonwealth Bank of Australia And Ericsson to trial 5G edge computing technologies in the financial services sector.

    The three-way collaboration will involve testing end-to-end banking solutions over 5G technology in an effort to explore the future of banking.

    The companies will evaluate how 5G edge computing can help reduce the network infrastructure currently required at bank branches to support high-speed transactions.

    Speaking at the event, Telstra group executive for networks and IT Nikos Katinakis said 5G has the potential to transform the global financial services sector.

    “5G edge computing is all about bringing the network closer to the user or application. For financial institutions like Commonwealth Bank, it will help to enhance existing banking applications as well as deliver new use cases such as artificial intelligence, all supported by a range of software defined networking solutions,” he said.

    “Together with Ericsson, we are pleased to be working closely with Commonwealth Bank, an industry leader, to help them design and deliver the next generation of banking services, powered by Telstra’s 5G technology and using edge computing.”

    Katinakis added that the lessons learned from the collaboration will be applicable to other industry verticals beyond financial services.

  • Korea’s Woori Bank partners with Chinese banks on remittance

    Korea’s Woori Bank partners with Chinese banks on remittance

    Woori Bank launched a money-transfer service linked with Chinese banks to allow its customers to readily and easily send money to people holding Chinese bank accounts. On Monday, the bank said the service will be carried out in real time. The partnered entities include the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications and also Chinese financial services company UnionPay.

    The service will charge 10,000 won ($8.9) in fees for a transaction less than 2 million won. For remittance over 2 million won, the charge will increase to a flat rate of 20,000 won.

    The service was jointly developed by Woori Bank, Woori Card and UnionPay. Once a user sends money, the service will notify the user of the transfer result via text message.

    The sender must send Korean won and the receiver will receive Chinese Yuan.

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  • Maybank achieves record earnings of RM8.11 billion for 2018

    Maybank achieves record earnings of RM8.11 billion for 2018

     Malayan Banking Bhd’s (Maybank) registered highest ever net profit of RM8.11 billion for the financial year ended December 31, 2018 (FY18) from RM7.52 billion a year ago, mainly underpinned by higher loans growth, lower overhead costs as well as lower provisioning. Its FY18 revenue also rose 3.8% to RM47.32 billion against RM45.58 billion previously.

    Net profit for the fourth quarter, meanwhile, grew 9.1% to RM2.33 billion from RM2.13 billion in the same quarter a year ago, with revenue expanding 3.8% to RM12.23 billion from RM11.79 billion.

    The bank has proposed to declare a final dividend of 32 sen per share for the quarter under review.

    Together with the 25 sen interim dividend declared earlier, the full-year dividend payout of 57 sen per share amounts to RM6.3 billion or 77.3% of net profit.

    The total dividend payout also translates into a higher dividend yield of 6% versus 5.6% in 2017.

    In 2018, Maybank’s achieved a record net operating income which rose 1.7% to RM23.63 billion, on the back of a 3.1% increase in fund based income as a result of higher contributions from all business sectors and key home markets.

    Group gross loans expanded at a faster pace of 4.8% in FY18, compared with 1.7% previously. The Malaysian operations saw loans expanding 4.8%, Singapore 4.5%, Indonesia 7.0% and 10.9% for other international markets.

    Maybank also highlighted that its net impairment losses for the year coming in 20.5% lower than the previous year, lifting operating profit by 9.3% to RM10.8 billion in 2018.

    For Q4 alone, it also saw net impairment losses coming in 58.1% lower than Q3.

    The bank continued to maintain a healthy liquidity position with its liquidity coverage ratio of 132.4% and loan-to-deposit ratio of 92.7%. Total capital ratio was 18.51% while its fully loaded common equity tier 1 ratio stood at 14.51%, both well above the regulatory requirements of 8.0% and 4.5% respectively.

    On its prospects, Maybank said it will maintain its balance sheet expansion in line with forecast economic growth of its three home markets, in tandem with the group’s risk posture, and continue building on its diversified franchise and footprint to expand income streams through cross business collaborations and focusing on diligent pricing of its assets and liabilities.

    Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the group expects its financial performance for 2019 to be satisfactory in line with the expected growth prospects of its key home markets.

    The group has set the headline key performance indicator (KPI) for return on equity (ROE) of approximately 11%.

    At 2.35pm, Maybank’s share price was trading unchanged at RM9.54 on 3,344,100 shares done.