The New House of Maybank

To realise the Group’s vision of becoming the Regional Financial Services Leader by 2015 and to support the Group’s five strategic objectives, in July 2010, the Group’s organisation structure was re-aligned into three business pillars which allow for a more coordinated and effective business execution: Community Financial Services, Global Wholesale Banking and Insurance and Takaful.

Community Financial Services (CFS)

The CFS business pillar was created to extend the former consumer banking business to also serve SME and Commercial/Business Banking customers from all our branches in Malaysia. This will better enable us to entrench our customer value proposition, which centres around convenience and serving the needs of the community. This sector’s transformation has four main thrusts:

• Reposition as a Community Financial Services provider focusing on convenience and serving the needs of individuals, SMEs and commercial customers
• Move to a segment-driven model for customisation and differentiation in products, services, pricing, channels and process mix
• Industrialise and drive innovation to further differentiate ourselves in the market
• Embed credit into the business to speed up turnaround time and achieve customer fulfilment without compromising on asset quality

The year saw a transformation of all branches to One-Stop-Shops, providing a comprehensive range of financial services within a single touch point. The branch transformation enables SME customers to be served by the entire branch network in Malaysia of 386 branches, instead of only 39 business centres previously. This allows us to engage with, retain and deliver better service experience to our customers. Other changes at the branch saw the beginnings of the ‘Hip and Cool’ approach to increase our urban clientele.

During the year, we also extended our contact points via POS Malaysia offices and made inroads into rural areas through our mobile micro payment facility.

Global Wholesale Banking (GWB)

GWB was created to streamline corporate banking, transaction banking, global markets and investment banking under a single business pillar. This allows us to serve corporate customers through a Client Coverage Model, with a client relationship manager responsible for meeting all of the client’s various product needs regionwide.

The sector is now strengthening its regional network, with our regional expansion supporting that of our clients. A significant milestone was the acquisition of Kim Eng Holdings, which enables us to extend our investment banking operations by leveraging on Kim Eng’s regional platform to provide comprehensive services for our corporate customers across the region.

In November 2010, we restructured Trade Finance to improve our ability to service wholesale clients. Our transformation means focusing on business growth and improving customer experience by being prepared to explore trade business beyond the norm, and by providing competitive financing.

Insurance and Takaful

We operate Insurance and Takaful through several life and general as well as conventional and Islamic insurance companies under the Etiqa brand name. Our initiatives to expand product offerings and widen distribution through expanding the agency force aim to make Etiqa the country’s largest insurer. Our key focus is on:

• Building a productive agency force in Conventional and Takaful insurance
• Driving Maybank business through product innovation (Savings, Investment & Protection)
• Building a profitable portfolio for Group and Health insurance
• Strengthening branches, third party business, direct, enterprise and corporate distribution channels
• Growing third party assets under management

During the year, new initiatives were launched to expand the agency business, including the recruitment of new agents, generating over RM350 million in new premiums. Meanwhile, to increase effectiveness in end-to-end processing and business efficiency, we are upgrading our IT infrastructure.

Apart from operating businesses vertically within the pillars, we are also focusing on the growth of our International and Islamic banking offerings across these business pillars.

International Expansion

To support our international expansion, we launched regionalisation initiatives for both the consumer and corporate segments. To capture the growing market for cross-border payments, we introduced a money transfer service known as Maybank Money Express (MME). Then, for trade finance and cash management services, the Group’s Transaction Banking rolled out and expanded its web-based trade finance service, TradeConnex, to regional offices in ASEAN countries.

Islamic Banking

As the largest Islamic bank in Malaysia, Maybank Islamic seeks to grow domestically through better collaboration with the three business pillars and also plans to expand into the key markets of Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines and Hong Kong/ China. During the year, Maybank Islamic worked to grow its retail and wholesale business in close partnership with Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) and the newly established Maybank Syariah Indonesia (MSI).

Enterprise Transformational Services

Operationally, our business pillars are supported by the Group’s Enterprise Transformational Services providing overall support for transformation initiatives, information technology and operations, with the aim of continually improving operational efficiencies. Two areas which underwent major changes during the year are Information Technology and Service Quality.

IT Tranformation Programme (ITTP )

ITTP undertook a transformation initiative to replace the Bank’s legacy system. It rolled out a five-year strategic roadmap to be deployed across the region, aimed at improving service channels, product design capabilities and business support. The system is designed to be agile, leveraging on capabilities to out-execute the competition.

The regional capabilities of our technology transformation will boost collaboration, data sharing and knowledge management between countries as we pursue ASEAN expansion.

Service Quality

Service Quality was also transformed, to improve both internal and external customer service. FY2011 saw a centralisation of service units, maximising the strengths of service teams across the Bank. Efforts to improve levels of customer service at the branches continued. Soft skills and the image of front line staff improved, and Mystery Shopping scores pushed from 73% in May 2010 to 87% in February 2011.

We will continue to measure internal and external customer satisfaction and benchmark our performance against the market. To embed a quality service culture, we will measure the service performance of all Maybankers.

Re-igniting Innovation

To remain competitive and always ready for change, we are building a culture of innovation, which we are nurturing as a mindset and capability in all Maybankers.

Harnessing the experience and the creative talents of Maybankers, the President’s Innovative Idea Awards was reframed and relaunched, inviting active participation across sectors. The new framework ensures Maybankers continually rethink established processes, add value to our products and services, find solutions to challenges, and implement the best solutions.

More than 500 ideas have been submitted since January 2011, encompassing process, product, marketing and customer service enhancements. Winning ideas were immediately scheduled for implementation.

This phase of the transformation has seen an active involvement by all sectors, with Maybankers initiating and leading change efforts and taking team responsibility for delivering results. There was also a remarkable collaboration between sectors, maximising resources to deliver exceptional customer value, service and support.

Looking ahead, our transformation journey will continue, ensuring that we keep ahead of the market, delivering exceptional customer value and enriching the communities around us.