Maybank Islamic expects up to 10% growth in financing for FY16
10 Mar 2016, 10:03 am
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 10, 2016.

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank Islamic Bhd, the Islamic banking arm of Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), expects its nancing to record a 10% growth for the nancial year ending Dec 31, 2016 (FY16).

Its chief executive officer Datuk Muzaffar Hisham said the syariah-compliant lender has a relatively “moderate” financing growth rate, given the current market environment.

“I would be more conservative this year (FY16). Bear in mind that we are the largest Islamic bank (in Malaysia) as well, (so) we are looking at between 9% and 10% growth,” he told reporters at the opening of the Islamic Banking and Finance workshop here yesterday.

In FY15, Maybank Islamic’s gross financing grew 21% to RM131.1 billion from the previous year, while deposits grew 24% to RM123.4 billion.

Muzaffar also expects the bank’s gross impairment ratio to increase along with the industry trend.

“I do not deny that the credit charge will be on the uptrend in the industry this year but more importantly, is how we manage our risk, liquidity and capital position,” he said, but declined to give precise figures.

On sukuk issuance, while noting that the Islamic bond market will remain moderate this year, Muzaffar said he expects that there will still be growth in foreign currency issuance in the Middle East.

“I agree with the RAM Ratings report yesterday, which noted that the global sukuk issuances will stay between US$55 billion (RM226.60 billion) and US$65 billion for 2016,” he said.

Last year, Maybank Islamic’s sukuk issuance amounted to US$2.9 billion through 106 issuances. For the ringgit sukuk market, the bank made 98 issuances totalling RM9.67 billion.

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