Maybank group president and chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli speaks at the Maybank Invest Asean 2023 conference in Singapore on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (Photo by Maybank)

KUALA LUMPUR (June 20): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) believes that the government would continue to announce more initiatives to promote Malaysia as an investment centre.

Maybank group president and chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli said the measures put together by the government would help to reduce frictions in the market.

“We believe this is just a precursor to more developments to come and it is certainly something exciting for us to look forward to,” he said at a press conference on the sidelines of the hybrid Maybank Invest Asean 2023 conference held in Singapore on Tuesday (June 20).

On Monday (June 19), Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced measures such as reducing stamp duty rate for shares traded on Bursa Malaysia Securities, promoting corporate ventures and easing the listing process among others, to beef up the capital market and create more wealth for the people.

In the immediate term, the prime minister said stamp duty rate for shares traded on Bursa Malaysia Securities would be reduced to 0.10% of contract value effective July, from the current 0.15%, subject to a maximum cap of RM1,000 per contract.

In line with government’s efforts, Khairussaleh said the group would continue to uncover opportunities that may have not been discovered by the general investing community.

“Perhaps, we (can) encourage investors to not just look at the macro level from top down, but also look at the potentials of individual companies,” he said.

In terms of sustainability, the group’s goal is to mobilise US$17 billion (RM80 billion) in sustainable finance by 2025.

“As of March 2023, I am pleased to say [that] we had mobilised a total of US$8.4 billion (RM38.8 billion) to support low-carbon transition initiatives and sustainable development outcomes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Maybank group CEO, global banking, Datuk Muzaffar Hisham is hopeful that the group could work closely with policymakers on decarbonisation, particularly in carbon trading not just in Malaysia but also across the Asean region.

“We basically want to take the leadership and on the research side, our research team has come up with proprietary environmental, social and governance (ESG) scoring for up to 300 companies, and ESG analyses in Asean.

“We (have) even built our own model to calculate the sustainability of companies which are all published in our research reports,” Muzaffar said.

On a similar note, Maybank Investment Banking group CEO Michael Oh-Lau expects investments into renewables and other green technologies to continue accelerating this year and in the coming years in Asean, supported by sustainable debt financing.

With the Asean Capital Market Forum’s Sustainability-Linked Bond Standards in place, he said that industries have greater flexibility in participating in the sustainable finance market.

“We can anticipate higher issuances of sustainability-linked and transition instruments, in addition to the conventional green, social or sustainability instruments. We are at a pivotal point in the transition journey of Asean,” Oh-Lau said.

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