KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) is still looking for merger and acquisition (M&A) targets to achieve its regional organisation status with 40% of pre-tax profit derived from international operations.

Maybank's president and chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said the banking group did not achieve the target by 2015 as it failed to acquire a suitable asset.

According to Maybank's annual report, the contribution of international business on the group's profit before tax was 27% for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2015 (FY15).

"There are a lot of opportunities, but we need to be disciplined. We are not pressuring ourselves to achieve the target by acquiring assets that are not right for us," Abdul Farid told reporters after the group's annual general meeting today.

Abdul Farid, who sees difficulty in executing M&A plans, opines that the right assets must be able to be integrated with the group's operation and culture.

When asked if he still pursues Thailand's commercial banking business, he said that the management is not limiting itself in a particular market.

"We are looking at other markets in Southeast Asia and ASEAN as well," he added.

At 3pm, Maybank was 12 sen or 1.33% higher at RM9.13. The market capitalisation of the group stood at RM83.04 billion.