AMBANK UPBEAT ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Lender will continue to fight for business as it is ‘in our genes’, says group CEO
AMBANK Group believes it’s equal opportunities for all under the Pakatan Harapan government. Group chief executive officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said AmBank would continue “to fight” for business opportunities.
“AmBank has never been a government-linked company and it is in our genes to fight and compete for business,” said Sulaiman after the group’s annual general meeting, here, yesterday.
AmBank is not expecting changes to existing fiscal policies from newly-appointed Bank Negara Malaysia governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus.
“Nor Shamsiah is an old hand in Bank Negara. We believe there will be a continuation of the fiscal policies. We do not foresee any surprises,” he said.
Sulaiman said AmBank had also not been approached by the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) task force.
“We remain an open book and have been working with the regulators on this matter for the last two years,” he said.
Bank Negara had in 2015 fined the group RM53.7 million for “noncompliance with certain regulations” and “weaknesses in its reporting system” when a report showed that RM2.6 billion had been transferred into the personal bank account of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
AmBank had never specified the exact reason for the fine but it was believed to be linked to 1MDB.
Sulaiman said it was also too early to gauge the impact of the Sales and Services Tax (SST) on its credit card business.
Under the SST that will come into effect on September 1, a fee of RM25 will be implemented on each credit or charge card upon renewal.
“We believe there may be some impact on the credit card segment but credit cards are a necessity and consumers will still opt for them, even with the SST,” said Sulaiman.
Meanwhile, the bank had allocated between RM120 million and RM160 million for the yearly running of the bank, said group chief financial officer Jamie Ling.
“We have allocated half of it for digitalisation as it is part of our Top 4 Strategy that envisions the bank to become one of the top four banks in Malaysia by 2020,” he said.