RHB Bank targets expansion in Singapore and Indonesia

The lender to get more out of the impressive performance of its Singapore unit as its pre-tax profit there jumped by 49%.

RHB Bank, currently under the mergers and acquisitions spotlight, is launching an online platform in Singapore to capture the robust growth there while overcoming the problem of operating with a restricted licence.

“The Singapore bank forms the largest part of our international business but we need to increase its contribution,'' said Renzo Viegas (pic), principal officer and director of retail at RHB Bank.

“We are remodelling five of the seven branches and relocating a few,'' he told StarBiz.

Pre-tax profit for the Singapore banking operations jumped by 49% last year to S$29mil (US$23.51 million). Return on equity also rose from 17.3% to 23.9% last year.

Overall, global financial banking contributed RM100.2mil ($33.34 million) to group pre-tax profit of RM1.9bil ($632.17 million) last year.

The focus in Singapore is mostly on consumer, small and medium enterprise (SME) banking while some big investment banking deals may be struck occasionally.

View the full story in The Malaysian Star.