Maybank also known as Malayan Banking Berhad is a Malaysian universal bank that has other operating markets in South East Asia including Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore. It is by far the largest bank in Malaysia in terms of market capitalization. It is also one of the largest banks in South East Asia with total assets of more than USD 165 billion and making a net profit of USD 1.75 billion in 2015. The bank was also ranked 95th in The Banker’s 2015 Top 1000 World Banks as of July 2015 and it was ranked 362 in the Forbes Global 2000 Leading Companies as of June 2016. Adding to its extensive background, Maybank is also currently the largest public listed company on Bursa Malaysia with a market capitalization of USD 19.1 billion as of 31st of December 2015.
Maybank was first founded by a Malaysian business tycoon known as Khoo Teck Puat along with a few of his partners on 31st of May 1960 in Kuala Lumpur. Since its inception, Maybank has rapidly expanded from one branch into 150 branches around Malaysia within 3 years of their operations. Maybank also purchased Goodwood Park Hotel in Singapore for SGD 4.8 million in 1963 and in 1964, Maybank established its trust company known as Maybank Trustees Berhad. However, the founder Khoo Teck Puat was ousted out of the bank by the Malaysian Government under Deputy Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak’s administration in 1965. The reason was Khoo Teck Puat was suspected to be pumping money into his own private company in Singapore. In 1973, Maybank formed its own investment banking arm known as Aseambankers Malaysia Berhad or Asian & Euro-American Merchant Banking (Malaysia) Berhad and in 1987, Maybank set up Maybank Securities Sdh Bhd to start providing stockbroking and other investment related services.
Maybank was able to expand its operations to Federal Territory of Labuan after the new Malaysian Offshore Banking Act was passed in 1990. In the same year, Maybank also formed Maybank Unit Trust Berhad to focus more on unit trusts funds management. Maybank then went on to launched Maybank General Assurance Berhad which was then relaunched as Maybank Life Assurance after the bank bought over Safety Line & General Insurance Sdn Bhd and started to provide insurance related services. The first foreign operation of Maybank outside of Malaysia and Singapore was in Papua New Guinea after the bank set up its subsidiary there in 1994 where Maybank opened 2 branches in Port Moresby and Lae respectively. In 1995, Maybank was able to further expand its operations to Indonesia after the bank entered into a joint-venture with PT Bank Nusa Nasional of Indonesia in 1995. In 1997, Maybank joined up with Philippine National Bank and acquired 60% of the stake from the previous Republic Savings Bank. This venture was then renamed as Maybank Philippines and nearly 60 Maybank branches were set up across different cities in Philippines. As a result of its efforts in expansion and the merger with Pacific Bank and PhileoAllied Bank, Maybank was ranked as one of the top 120 banks in the world for the very first time in 2000. Maybank also opened a branch in the city of Shanghai after the bank managed to gain a license to operate in China and applied for a license to begin their operations in Bahrain in 2001. In 2002, Maybank Takaful Bhd was set up to promote Takaful insurance products.
Maybank tried to strengthen its presence in Indonesia by attempting to take over Bank Permata of Indonesia but the bid failed. In 2005, Maybank again attempted to take over BinaFikir Sdn Bhd but the deal fell through at the end of 2005 despite receiving the approval to launch a takeover bid. Maybank also acquired MNI Insurance and Takaful Nasional through Maybank Fortis. Both of these companies were then rebranded to Etiqa Insurance and Etiqa Takaful. After that, Maybank Takaful Bhd transferred all its assets, liabilities and businesses to Etiqa Takaful. In 2011, Maybank was completely acquired by Kim Eng Holdings Limited for a total sum of SGD 1.8 billion. Under this deal, Maybank will acquire 44.6% stake in Kim Eng Holdings at SGD 3.10 per share. Subsequently, the bank replaced the representative office with a proper branch in Beijing and opened a branch in Yangon, Myanmar. In 2015, Maybank exited Papua New Guinea’s market in 2015 after Maybank Papua New Guinea and Maybank Property Papua New Guinea was sold to Kina Ventures Ltd for a sum of RM546.8 million as reported by The Star Newspaper.
Today, Maybank has an international banking network comprising of over 2,400 branches and offices in 20 different countries with banking presence in every single South East Asian country. The bank employs a total of 45,000 employees worldwide and it also has branches in major global financial centres like London, New York, Bahrain and Hong Kong. In Malaysia, there is a network of 393 branch offices with more 2,500 automated teller machines (ATMs) nationwide. The key people involved in Maybank are Datuk Abdul Farid Alias as the President and CEO, Tan Sri Dato’ Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor as the Chairman and Dato’ Mohamed Rafique Merican as the Group’s Chief Financial Officer. Maybank’s current headquarters is located at Menara Maybank in Kuala Lumpur.