KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — After a successful acquisition by the Malaysia Building Society Berhad (MBSB), the Asian Finance Bank (AFB) has now officially been rebranded as MBSB Bank Berhad, positioning itself as an Islamic bank.
MBSB Bank today unveiled its new logo after the RM644.95 million takeover which was finalised in February this year.
MBSB Bank now joins the pool of other banks, offering day to day banking services to both corporate and regular banking clients.
It is currently the second largest full-fledged Islamic bank in the country, in terms of asset size of RM43.7 billion.
The bank is also looking to actively incorporate fintech (financial technology) into its delivery and marketing tools.
“In line with the digital transformation journey, we embarked on data warehouse and big data project in June 2017.
“We are pleased to inform that the new bank is the first full-fledged Islamic bank that has successfully implemented the Oracle Big Data Analytics.
“While MBSB has been in existence for 68 years, we believe that the new bank shall walk its own journey and stamp its own mark in the banking industry and accomplish its own historic milestones,” MBSB Bank president and group chief executive, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zaini Othman said in his speech, at the bank’s official launching ceremony in Hilton Hotel, here today.
MBSB Bank is currently the main financier of over eight of the country’s affordable housing programmes, including the 1Malaysia Civil Servants Housing (PPA1M) programme.
‘We are very strong in this area and in the assessment of our property development programmes and projects, and financing.
“Also, we are very strong in the personal financing business,” Ahmad Zaini said, in a press conference later, when questioned on the bank’s niche services.
Ahmad Zaini also expounded on the rationale behind the bank’s corporate tagline and logo, explaining that customers must have a sense of reliance towards the bank, and it is crucial for MBSB Bank to be a one that ‘“walks together in every step of a customer’s endeavour”.
He said the logo was to exhibit change and transformations while conveying a “modern characteristic” to the letter ‘M’, which is used to signify the initial of the bank and Malaysia.
The chosen corporate colour, blue is used to symbolise harmony and progress.
MBSB Bank currently has a staff strength of over 1,500 employees.
