KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) is confident of a positive loan growth in Malaysia for the second half of the year, in view of the significant growth momentum in the consumer segment.
Group Chief Financial Officer Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said loan growth would also be driven by economic growth.
In the first half of this year, Maybank achieved a loan growth of 6.1 per cent, which is above the industry growth of five per cent for Malaysia.
“The rolling out of the Sales and Services Tax may be expansionary on consumer consumption with lower government revenue expected compared to the Goods and Services Tax,” he told a media briefing today.
Amirul said while corporate activities seem to be slowing down, there was a window of opportunity in investment banking activities such as the debt market.
“Because of the volatility in capital markets, a lot of funds are switching from equity to cash,” he said.
Amirul also said that Maybank was striving to improve its net interest margin to about 2.36 per cent from the current 2.33 per cent. — Bernama
