The Maybank group will be vigorously pursuing expansion outside Malaysia as it competes with fellow Malaysian-based rival CIMB, according to Maybank Kim Eng group chief executive, Tengku Datuk Zafrul Aziz.
Referring to CIMB, Zafrul Aziz told local media: "Every organisation aims to be the best in its industry and Maybank [Investment Bank] is no different. Overtaking competitors is at the top of everyone's list."
Maybank was an early entrant in the Malaysian retail structured products market in 2003 and the leading wholly-domestic provider until 2006. From 2007 and every year since, it has been outsold by CIMB, according to the SRP database.
Regionally, Maybank has issued a total of 90 products in Malaysia and 17 issues in Singapore compared to CIMB's 262 products in Malaysia, 23 issues in Singapore and seven products in Indonesia.
Zafrul Aziz said Maybank was in the middle of building up its derivatives business which would leverage Maybank's strong distribution network and existing client base.
"We would be helping our clients to take advantage of either bullish or bearish market conditions through derivatives and structured products," he said.
He added that Maybank needed to scale up its business into one of a regional leadership position and that the priority was taking regional market share while shoring up its position locally.
Specific targets include Indonesia and greater China with a view to tapping more mergers and acquisitions, equity and equity-linked securities and leveraged finance opportunities.
The group is also looking to forge more ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to build up its Islamic banking deliveries through its partnership with Anfaal Capital in Saudi Arabia.
"The GCC countries have massive current account surpluses that they need to recycle overseas, and we will help to direct some of those flows to ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] and the rest of Asia," he said.