KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 17): MBSB Bhd’s (KL:MBSB) merger with Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd just over 10 months ago helped solidify its position as the country’s second-largest stand-alone Islamic bank by assets after Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (KL:BIMB).
Yet, it remains a relatively small player in a highly competitive and crowded market, where net profit margins have been on the decline — a fact that is not lost on its key shareholders. MBSB is 57.45% owned by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), and 12.78% owned by Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB).
In an exclusive interview, MBSB chairman Datuk Wan Kamaruzaman Wan Ahmad reveals that the shareholders aim to have the group undertake further mergers and acquisitions (M&A) down the road. He does not discount the possibility of it happening within the three-year time frame (2024 to 2026) of MBSB’s strategic business plan.
The plan, code-named Flight26, is ultimately aimed at having the group reach a return on equity (ROE) of 8% by end-2026, from 2.9% last year, on a business-as-usual basis.
“The shareholders are ambitious. I think they still want us to grow,” Wan Kamaruzaman says during The Edge’s interview with him and the bank’s top management — group chief executive officer Mohamed Rafe Mohamed Haneef and group chief financial officer Shahnaz Farouque Jammal Ahmad — recently.
In the meantime, though, MBSB’s unwavering focus is on executing the Flight26 strategy, a key element of which involves the bank chasing Casa (current account and savings accounts) deposits to reduce its high cost of funds.
Ever since last year, MBSB has been making big changes to its management, injecting new blood to start afresh.
In the interview, the group’s top officials talk about their transformation plans and what they need to do to meet the 8% ROE target. They also address the issue of fraudulent deposit withdrawals in Kota Kinabalu amounting to RM24.2 million in June, which they say will not have a significant financial impact on the group.
Get the full story in this week’s issue of The Edge Malaysia.
Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.
P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.