KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) said it will continue to focus on strengthening the group’s liquidity as well as preserving capitals in order to deliver greater efficiency while remaining resilient in the volatile operating landscape.

Group president and chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said however, the bank has yet to set a concrete target for its performance for the year as the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is still unknown.

"However, the minute we see a down cycle, we will hunker down to preserve our capital and liquidity to make sure we remain strong.

"This is not only for the sake of our business continuity, it is also for the entire banking system. Therefore, the most important thing to do now is to ensure sustainability of organisations and the entire ecosystem,” he said in a virtual media interview today.

He said the bank will continue to help customers, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which were adversely affected by the Movement Control Order.

"We intend to see our customers through this period and to support the domestic economies of our home markets. We are committed towards helping them stay afloat, supporting employment and preventing business failures in the near term,” he said.

To this end, Malaysia’s largest financial services group is working with home market regulators to lead discussions and roll out solutions to provide temporary reprieves for cash flow constraints caused by supply and demand disruptions and labour market dislocation.

Abdul Farid also said that in Malaysia, over 70 per cent of Maybank’s loan book is currently under the moratorium or rescheduling and restructuring programmes.

Meanwhile, around 88 per cent of its outstanding SME loans are under the six-month moratorium.

Maybank has approved close to 77 per cent of applications it received for Bank Negara Malaysia’s Special Relief Fund (SRF) for SMEs, involving RM2.1 billion.

The bank’s total financing to SMEs — including the amount disbursed under the SRF for the first five months of this year — stood at RM4.9 billion.

He added that in Singapore, the group saw a gradual take-up of the moratorium and relief programmes and has engaged over 2,300 retail SME and business banking customers.

Meanwhile, Maybank Indonesia has engaged with almost all its non-retail debtors — including 80 corporate customers and 7,700 Community Financial Services non-retail customers — to assess their business conditions and proactively engage with them on restructuring.

On another note, chief financial officer Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said the bank does not foresee any more Overnight Policy Rate cut for the rest of the year, unless there is a deterioration in the local and global economy. — Bernama