KUALA LUMPUR (April 25): RHB Bank Bhd will focus on the mortgage and small and medium enterprise (SME) markets to drive its growth, with two to three app launches by the first half of this year.

"The new mortgage app will be something new to satisfy our customers," RHB Bank group managing director Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli said in a media briefing today following the group's annual general meeting.

One or two of these apps are likely to be introduced as soon as next month, he added.

The group has already seen 16% of new mortgage applications coming in through its existing RHB MyHome app, with the growth rate of mortgage loans to match its targeted 11% for the group's retail segment.

Loan growth in the mortgage and SME segments, as well as a recovery in RHB's Singaporean operations will be the drivers for the group to hit its 6% loan growth target this year, Khairussaleh said.

As the group does not expect to see any major reduction in costs, it said any increase in revenue would be from fee-based income.

"One of the challenges we might see to loan growth is corporate repayments," Khairussaleh said, adding that the group would need to do more to support repayments.

Separately, he also commented that the e-wallet market currently appears crowded, which may lead to eventual consolidation.

"RHB may look at partnering with existing players in e-wallet market," he said.

At the midday break today, RHB dipped 0.38% or 2 sen to RM5.28 with 59,700 shares done.