KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), which has launched its Yangon branch in Myanmar, sees lending and transaction banking as major contributors to the revenue of its Myanmar operations within the next five years.
Maybank International's chief executive officer Pollie Sim said lending will be driven mainly by working capital financing and transaction banking by Myanmar’s growing international trade and demand for cash management, especially as projects are completed and operationalised.
“We believe that Maybank’s success in Myanmar hinges on the growth of Myanmar’s financial sector," she said in a statement today.
"To this end, we have been playing a significant role in supporting the development of the country’s financial services industry, ever since we began operating as a representative office here in 1994.
“We have hosted various training sessions for Myanmar banks to share our knowledge in banking and finance and we will continue to do so, especially across four key areas - namely interbank and capital market, international trade and capability building,” she added.
Sim said the group's focus will be supporting wholesale and corporate clients as well as domestic banks in Myanmar, with services such as deposit accounts, working capital financing, transaction banking, cash management, treasury and capital market solutions.
“We are well positioned to bring our experience and industry expertise to the table to develop project financing structures, or help raise capital via regional equity or debt markets," she said.
"We will also be able to leverage our balance sheet and offshore financing capabilities to finance large scale projects and/ or distribute them across our network,” Sim added.
Sim noted that Myanmar is a fast emerging nation with a target economic growth of 9.3% for 2015, driven by an unprecedented amount of foreign investment and rapid expansion in its nascent telecoms sector.
“Myanmar’s economy has undergone a major transformation since 2012 and is now luring foreign direct investment (FDI) on a larger scale. For 2014/2015, the country received US$8.1 billion in FDI which was 25 times higher compared with the US$329.6 million received in 2009/2010,” she noted. “This will not only drive the consumer sector, but also demand for financial services, which in turn will be a major growth driver for the country.”
The Maybank Yangon branch, which has a registered capital of US$75 million, was recently officiated by the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar, U Set Aung and deputy governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim.
Maybank's chairman Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor said in his speech that Maybank has been present in Myanmar for the last 20 over years.
He said the coming into force of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) at the end of this year is going to change the economic landscape in Asia.
“With the harmonisation and integration of the flow of goods, services, people and capital, there will be plenty of opportunities across the region.
“We are also Asean’s top four in market values and assets among banking groups. These positions give us strengths to offer cross-border banking solutions and support our aim to become a financial solutions gateway for multinational clients from across our global network, including Asean and Greater China, which have business and investment dealings in Myanmar,” said Megat Zaharuddin.
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