Malaysia

Wong Kim Choong has been appointed as United Overseas Bank Malaysia's chief executive officer with immediate effect.

CIMB Bank expects to raise its market share for debit cards from the current 5.7 percent to 10 percent next year.

The Greater China operations of Malayan Banking Berhad or Maybank are now the third largest overseas contributor to the group’s pre-tax profit after Singapore and Indonesia.

Malaysia's banking sector will experience resilient earnings in line with the country’s sturdy economic growth supported by strong domestic demand, robust capital markets and exports.

Maybank clarified that its private placement exercise was a proactive move to boost its equity capital ahead of the implementation of the Basel III capital framework.

OCBC Bank boosted its SME loans by more than 20 percent for the first six months.

While Alliance Bank Malaysia already expects its loan growth to surpass last year's 11 percent, it continues to look for ways to provide convenient customer experience.

Unless they are trying to significantly boost capital outlay, Banks in Malaysia are unlikely to engage in capital raising activities, said banking analysts.

Maybank placed out 412 million new shares at a price of RM8.88 and hence raising a whopping RM3.6bil in the process.

More Mlaysian financial institutions are aggressively mapping out strategies to provide agent banking services.

The Shariah unit of CIMB Niaga doubled its earnings in the first half as customers placed more funds, pushing upthe value of its assets.

The HSBC Group is concentrating more in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia and less in Indonesia in its Islamic finance offering to customers.

Maybank is looking to raise RM2.64 billion to further strengthen the bank's capital base.

Malaysia’s Islamic banks accounted for 24.2% of Malaysia’s total banking industry assets during the first seven months of 2012.

Wong Kim Choong will take over as chief executive officer of United Overseas Bank Malaysia from Chan Kok Seong.

Malaysia accounted for 68 percent of the total global sukuk outstanding and 71 percent market share of the sukuk issued as at end-July.