Maybank
Maybank chief executive Abdul Farid Alias is enjoying good times. The bank that he has run for four years is purring along, which is more than can be said for much of Malaysia, still reeling from 1MBD hangovers and political tension. Under the low-profile Farid’s careful aegis, Maybank is now the country’s biggest bank by some distance. Its closest rival CIMB is well back.
Boasting around $170 billion in assets, Maybank has also become Malaysia’s regional champion, the fourth biggest bank by assets in Asean after Singaporean banks DBS, OCBC and UOB, which Farid benchmarks his bank against. In January Farid flagged the possibility of an earnings contraction this year, but he stunned the market in June with profits for the first half up a handsome 30% on last year.
There was another milestone in June for Farid, as Maybank became the first ever Malaysian company to top RM100 billion ($24 billion) in market capitalization and its share price has jumped 25% this year. With loan growth up by 6% since Farid took a knife to NPLs last year, the rest of the year looks like being bumper for Farid and his Maybank team.