KUALA LUMPUR (April 17): AMMB Holdings Bhd (AmBank Group) forecasts loans to grow "a few percentage points" in the financial year ended March 31, 2017 (FY17) compared with FY16 amid the riskier operating environment.

In the preceding financial year, AmBank registered about 5% to 6% loan growth.

"In terms of loan growth in FY17, we hope to achieve [better figures] than what we did in FY16. We aim to hit a few percentage points better," its group chief executive Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir told reporters after the signing of a merchants agreement between AmBank Group and Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) today.

Last December, Sulaiman said the banking group is concerned about the industry's outlook in 2017 and only expects to see progress in the second half of the year (2H17).

When asked on AmBank's main agenda in view of the bleak outlook, Sulaiman said that while improvements have been seen in terms of consumer confidence, foreign direct investments (FDIs) as well as the equity market's performance, it is still too soon to predict if the sector can excel this year.

"We have seen growth in [several areas] and activities picking up in 1Q17. Consumer confidence is coming back and there is pick-up in FDIs and in the equity market. But it is still too early to answer for this year, so we will see how it pans out for the coming years," he said.

Elaborating on this, Sulaiman said the real estate and oil and gas (O&G) industries remain a concern for the group.

"There is still excessive supply of office and retail spaces. Meanwhile, there isn't as many activities in the O&G sector as a result of the slowdown in production. These are two areas that will be watched for the next three quarters or so," he said.

Earlier, AmBank Group's Islamic banking arm AmBank Islamic Bhd and IWK inked an agreement with JomPAY to allow customers to pay their IWK bills online.

At 3pm, AmBank's share price stood at RM4.88, valuing the group at RM14.71 billion.