Maybank in favour of Asean bank infrastructure

Implementing such a system would help regional players like Maybank have better risk management, a higher competitive advantage and a lower operations cost, said Abdul Farid Alias, president and chief executive officer of Maybank group.

"We would like to see more exposure to the same group and the ability to share information within the organisation around the region," he said at the Financial Times Asean Economic Summit in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

At present under the Bank Secrecy Act, each country requires infrastructure that was solely developed for that particular country, he said.

Farid said a lot of engagement with regional regulators was needed in order to arrive at the acceptable decision before realising the single system.

Developing different infrastructures to meet different market requirements was expensive for Maybank and other companies.

"It would have been more efficient if we [the Asean banking industry] were allowed to build it for the region regardless of where we are," he said.

Maybank is the only Asean bank with operations in all Asean countries. It has over 1,100 branches.