Driven by an ambition to rank among Asia Pacific’s top private banks, a young Maybank Private in 2013 put into action an aspirational go-to-market roadmap — dubbed ‘Build, Enhance, Perform’ — to expand its market share and presence. Five years on, its growth strategy is bearing impressive results and, crucially, remains on-schedule.

During its ‘build’ and ‘enhance’ phases — a period spanning from 2013 to 2017 — Maybank Private ticked off a formidable list of achievements: it established three booking centres and a service desk, formed a wealth management centre of excellence, overhauled its core banking systems, built up its product platform, and set up a dedicated unit for Islamic HNWIs.

Throughout this time, the private bank has played to the strengths of the Maybank Group, whose roots run deep in ASEAN. By leveraging the bank’s vast network, establishing a cross-market, cross-division client referral programme, and cultivating relationship managers to service clients at the regional level, Maybank Private has notched up an enviable business record, with client accounts and AUM growing at annualised rates of 48% and 44% respectively. Moreover, over 90% of the private bank’s client base comes from referrals.

Its decision to partner with core platform provider, Avaloq is also paying dividends. With powerful automation and straight-through processing capabilities, Maybank has been able to vastly improve operational efficiencies and transaction times. Indeed, since launch, average monthly transactions have shot up by 82% and average investment fees per month have more than trebled.

Maybank is now in the ‘enhance’ phase of the strategic growth plan — a stage dedicated to improving all those initiatives it has rolled out since 2013. Focusing on its people and recognising that upskilling talent is critical to achieving business sustainability, the bank partnered with the Wealth Management Institute of Nanyang Technological University last year to establish the Maybank Wealth Management Academy. The first batch of participants, comprising 156 client advisors, investment consultants, and products specialists — more than 10% of the wealth management workforce — graduated from the programme late last year, marking another milestone for Maybank Private.

The Judging Panel commends Maybank Private for devising and following through with a coherent and systematic growth strategy in a market where growth can never be taken for granted.

Maybank is Asian Private Banker’s Best Private Bank – Growth Strategy of the Year for 2018.