KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) announced today that it has expanded its wealth management business with to Kuching, Sarawak, with the opening of a new private wealth centre there.

The new Kuching private wealth centre, located within the existing Maybank Crown Towers Premier Centre, brings the banking group's global network of private wealth centres to five.

Other such centres are located in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and London, said Maybank in a statement.

"Our Kuching private wealth centre is the first such facility in East Malaysia, and it complements our existing network of six premier wealth centres in Sabah and Sarawak," said the banking group's head of regional private wealth Alvin Lee.

He also noted that the new private wealth centre came about after the rapid growth of its affluent client segment that was served by its premier wealth centres; the new centre is to meet the discerning financial requirements of this market segment.

Maybank's wealth management is expected to remain one of the key pillars of its growth over the next few years, the statement noted.

Maybank's total private wealth business recorded some RM20 billion in total financial asset as at September 2015; combined with its premier wealth segment, Maybank's total wealth management business tips the scale at RM150 billion.

Alvin said the centre in Sarawak will offer comprehensive products and services, advisory services on investment to maximise returns for clients and a high level of attention to clients' needs in order to increase wealth creation.

He added that with the level of expertise that Maybank had to offer, the group will continue to offer consistent returns for its clients.

"In 2014, our investment advisory generated an average of 12% returns without gearing. This year, in spite of the challenging business environment which has seen many equity markets trading in a very volatile fashion, we are still able to exceed the benchmarks in our investment strategy," he noted.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)