KUALA LUMPUR (May 28): AMMB Holdings Bhd is expecting to maintain loan growth of 6% for the financial year ending March 31, 2020 (FY20), as management wants to grow the group’s declining automotive loans while ensuring growth momentum is sustained for other loans.

Speaking at a media briefing today, AMMB chief executive officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said in FY19, the automotive segment was one of the two decliners among the group’s loan portfolio. It fell by 17% or RM3.1 billion.

The other segment was loans to large corporations, which declined by 5% or about RM900 million.

“If we can hit 6%, it will be very good because it is a function of the bigger environment. The thought process is about 1.5 times above GDP (gross domestic product), which was 4.5% (in the first quarter)...the intention is to support the business. We have built the process, systems, we are clear about the target market, and we want to grow faster than the industry,” he said.

“So if GDP goes up 5% or 6%, our loan growth target would be 8% to 9% because we want to grow faster than the industry,” he added.

For FY19, Sulaiman said AMMB achieved its targeted loan growth of 6% to RM101.8 billion, the first time the group’s loan surpassed the RM100 billion mark.

In terms of return on equity, which was 8.8% in FY19, above the targeted 8.5%, Sulaiman said management guidance for FY20 is flat at 9%.