Maybank ...Dec12

It will decide over the next six months from Nov 2012 whether it wants to locally incorporate its Singapore retail banking operations, a move that may enable it to double the number of outlets there.

Maybank is one of eight foreign banks that hold a qualified full banking (QFB) licence in Singapore , a status that gives it greater branching privileges than other foreign lenders operating there. A QFB-status bank is allowed to have up to 25 business locations on the island republic, and Maybank, which currently (Nov 2012) has 22 branches, is the only Malaysian bank to hold that status.

In June 2012, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) would require QFB banks that are important to the domestic market to locally incorporate their retail operations.

Maybank was prepared to locally incorporate its Singapore business but needed more details and clarity on what such a move would entail.

The potential move comes as Maybank, the fourth largest bank in Asean by assets, increasingly looks at deriving income from its overseas markets, particularly Indonesia and Singapore . It aims for 40 per cent of its pre-tax profit to come from its overseas operations by 2015 compared with 21 per cent in 2009. In recent years, it spread its wings in the region via organic growth and a series of acquisitions in a bid to become a leading financial services player in Asean by 2015.

For the nine months so far this year, its international operations saw a 53 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to RM1.72 billion, with Singapore accounting for about S$307 million (RM767.5 million) of that.