Malaysian banks' deposits up 4.2% in December

Guess which bank had the heftiest increase of 16%.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, aggregate customer deposits expanded at a slower pace of +4.2% YoY end-Dec 2016 versus 5.5% YoY end-Sep 2016. The slowdown was particularly dramatic for Public Bank to 2.9% YoY from 7.3% YoY in Sep 2016, principally with the shedding of more expensive money market deposits.

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

AMMB continued to report a contraction of its deposit base. CIMB’s domestic deposit gathering was strong, with growth of 8.5% YoY, moderated by slower growth in Indonesia (+1.1%), Thailand (+7.9%) and Singapore (-4.9%).

All banks but AMMB gathered more retail deposits during the year, with growth of 9% YoY in individual deposits. The heftiest was a 16% YoY increase from HL Bank, 15% for RHB and 14% for CIMB. AMMB saw its retail deposits contract 7% YoY.

With the shedding of more expensive money market deposits, “sticky” retail deposits improved in contribution to total deposits, averaging 43.2% end-2016 versus 42.9% end-Sep 2016.