KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Malayan Banking Bhd’s (Maybank) pre-tax profit surged to RM9.11 billion for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 from RM8.86 billion in 2013.

Revenue increased to RM35.71 billion from RM33.25 billion previously.

For the fourth quarter last year, Maybank posted a pre-tax profit of RM2.43 billion, on the back of RM9.66 billion in revenue.

Maybank Chairman Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor said the group’s results were boosted by a strong franchise in the region which had helped it achieve a commendable performance despite the volatile global environment last year.

“Our well diversified footprint and single-minded focus on growing the business in profitable market segments together with discipline in cost management have ensured that we continued to create value for all stakeholders,” he told a media briefing today.

Megat Zaharuddin said the group’s net profit for 2014 reached another record level of RM6.72 billion, lifted by a strong 11.5 per cent rise in net earnings in the 2014 fourth quarter.

He said the group saw overall income for financial year 2014 (FY14) grow steadily across most of its business lines with international operations recording the highest year-on-year income growth of 6.5 per cent, helping boost its contribution to group income to 36.1 per cent from 34.4 per cent a year earlier.

Megat Zaharuddin said additionally, it managed to mitigate the impact of slower money and capital market activities on its global market and investment banking businesses to close the year with relatively stable income levels for both these sectors.

Meanwhile Group President and Chief Executive Officer Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said Maybank’s group loans growth achieved 13.4 per cent year-on-year, on the back of robust loans growth in the bank’s international operations of 20.6 per cent and a nine per cent rise in Malaysia.

He said in Malaysia, this consisted of an 11.1 per cent growth in consumer loans and a 13.1 per cent growth in business banking and small and medium enterprises loans.

“The Singapore operations saw a 13.3 per cent rise in loans, while Indonesia saw a 5.4 per cent rise and other international markets, 47.5 per cent,” Abdul Farid said.

Gross deposits at the group level rose 11.1 per cent to RM439.6 billion, led by international markets, a 17.5 per cent rise, followed by Singapore, an increase of 16.5 per cent, a 7.4 per cent increase from Malaysian operations and a 4.4 per cent decrease in Indonesia.

 Abdul Farid said Maybank’s board of directors had also proposed a single-tier final dividend of 33 sen per share which together with the interim dividend of 24 sen per share earlier, is 6.5 per cent higher than FY13.

This would bring the total dividend payout for FY14 to 78.5 per cent of net profit.

“This record of consistently strong divendend payout also continues to rank Maybank among the top banks in the region in terms of dividend yield,” said Abdul Farid.

“Our focus for 2015 will be on four key areas that we believe can help us ride through the uncertain global economic conditions—strengthening our revenue, focusing on group-wide productivity, deploying our capital-efficient strategy and continuing our international market performance.

“We are also intensifying efforts to solidify our position to tap extensive opportunities within the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and to be deemed a qualified ASEAN bank.

“The recognition will play an important part in increasing the role in bolstering trade and investments in ASEAN and we will benefit from greater market access and operational flexibilities,” Abdul Farid added. — Bernama