Wealth of opportunities from rising affluence, says Maybank

KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), which clinched eight Euromoney private banking awards recently, sees rising affluence in the region as the main driver of its growing wealth management business.

Its head of high net worth and affluent banking, Choong Wai Hong, said wealth management is a growing portion of the bank's consumer banking business.

"In terms of financial assets, annual growth has been accelerating from 16 per cent in 2010 to 22.7 per cent, reaching RM62 billion as at December 2012. We see this trend continuing to drive our business performance.

"We anticipate this growth rate to be sustained at 18 per cent to 20 per cent in 2013," he said in a statement.

Maybank, the country's largest lender and Southeast Asia's fourth largest by assets, bagged eight out of nine awards related to private banking services in a poll undertaken by Euromoney recently.

The Euromoney Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey 2013 was conducted in more than 60 countries.

Choong attributed the awards as reaffirmation of the bank's leadership in the area of wealth management.

To tap the country's growing demand for private banking services, Maybank recently opened its first private banking centre (PBC) in Seberang Perai, Penang.

He said the bank aims to utilise the huge potential in the area and better serve its customers in the northern region.

Previously, customers from Seberang Perai had to travel to Penang island for private banking services at two Maybank PBCs.

Maybank also opened a new PBC in Seremban in January.