Maybank sees another round of US interest rates hike

KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) sees another round of interest rates hike during the two-day US Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting starting yesterday.

The FOMC holds eight regularly scheduled meetings during the year and other meetings as needed.

“The FOMC is currently holding its meeting and they will probably raise (interest) rates. We are seeing both interest and US dollar rates moving up bit by bit.

“Investors will be able to allocate risk into their investments accordingly,” Group President and Chief Executive Officer Datuk Abdul Farid Alias told reporters after launching Maybank’s new digital services for Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd investments here yesterday.

He pointed out the concerns on global trade growth due to the ongoing China-US trade tensions, but was optimistic over Malaysia’s economic growth in 2019.

“In Malaysia, we are quite comfortable. We will probably see slightly faster growth (next year) compared with 2018. “We are expecting 4.9 per cent growth in 2019, primarily driven by the government's policies that are already in place,” Abdul Farid said.

Meanwhile, he said cyber security was an ongoing effort for all financial institutions, when commenting on the recent alleged cyberattack on CIMB Group.

“So far, we do not have issues with our Maybank2U. It (cyber security) is a continuing effort because we know there are many cyber criminals and they are very sophisticated,” he added.