KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — Following the victory of Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the 14th general election, AMMB Holdings Bhd (AmBank Group) expects its retail segment to improve further due to the removal of goods and services tax (GST).
AmBank Group Chief Executive Officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said the removal of GST will boost consumer spending and will strengthen its retail banking the most although sales and services tax (SST) will take place soon for certain products.
“We certainly will see an increase for retail spending in certain areas such as credit cards and mortgages selectively, especially in property,” he said during the media briefing for the group’s financial result 2018 today.
He said the government’s plan to remove GST as well as toll reduction will benefit the consumer and put more money in hand as it will be translated into a multiplier effect in terms of the group’s retail business.
The multiplier effect refers to the increase in final income arising from any new injection of spending.
“With the removal of GST also, it will enhance our credit card portfolio as it has grown tremendously this year,” said Sulaiman.
Despite the credit card, the said small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a good example of trading as it supplies goods and products.
“Essentially, we foresee smaller businesses starting to pick up and in the retail business as well,” said.
Sulaiman noted that the group will continue to manage its cost diligently through BET300, a three-year business efficiency programme which aims to achieve RM300 million gross cost efficiencies across the group.
The group posted a net profit of RM1.13 billion for the financial year ended March 31, 2018 (FY18) but this was lower from a year due to its mutual separation scheme (MSS) and other normalised items.
It said today the FY18 net profit fell 14.5 per cent from RM1.324 billion in FY17. Its revenue rose 3.5 per cent to RM8.57 billion from RM8.28 billion. It announced a dividend of 10 sen a share.
