Maybank
Maybank has been singled out by the judges as the country’s best as a result of its strong performance in 2002 and excellent use of technology.
The bank, which dominates many areas of the Malaysian banking market, had pre-tax profit of $627m last year, up 58% on the previous year. It finished the year with gains in Tier 1 capital and assets, and it demonstrated a high degree of efficiency as measured by a cost-to-income ratio of just 36.7%.
Beyond its local dominance, whether in terms of deposits (32% market share), housing loans (16.6%) or Islamic finance (35%), Maybank’s other big strength is its excellent use of technology, which helps it to maintain that dominance. Last year, for example, it expanded its successful internet banking offering (80% market share) by launching a portal for business customers.
Maybank also introduced a payment channel for mobile phone users, allowing them to pay bills and make bank account enquires via their handsets. The service has already attracted 28,000 customers. The bank also implemented a sophisticated monitoring system for credit card transactions to guard against fraud.
