KUALA LUMPUR (April 1): Malayan Banking Bhd’s (Maybank) wholly-owned subsidiary Maybank Singapore Ltd (MSL) is reported to be proposing a US$10 billion (about RM41.5 billion) commercial paper programme to support MSL’s funding and liquidity requirements, according to Moody’s Investors Service, which has assigned a P-1 foreign currency senior unsecured short-term debt rating to MSL’s bond scheme.
In a note yesterday, Moody’s said MSL’s funding and liquidity are strong and supported by its established franchise in Singapore.
“MSL is Maybank’s (A3 stable, a3) fully-owned and Singapore-incorporated subsidiary. MSL operates 28 branches in Singapore, one of the largest networks for a foreign bank in the country.
“Moody’s has (also) assigned A1/Prime-1 (P-1) local and foreign currency long-term and short-term deposit ratings to MSL.
“Moody’s has (also) assigned a3 baseline credit assessment (BCA) and adjusted BCA to MSL, as well as Aa3/P-1 local and foreign currency counterparty risk ratings and Aa3(cr)/P-1(cr) counterparty risk assessments.The rating outlook where applicable is stable,” Moody’s said.
According to Moody’s MSL’s ratings also consider a very high probability of support from Maybank given the strategic importance of the Singapore market to Maybank and its long operating history in the country.
However, this support assumption does not result in any rating uplift because MSL’s a3 BCA is already at the same level as Maybank’s BCA, Moody’s said.
At the time of writing, Maybank had not made any announcements to Bursa Malaysia on the proposed US$10 billion bond sale.
Yesterday, Maybank’s share price closed at RM8.25 for a market capitalisation of about RM94.13 billion, which makes the financial-services provider Malaysia’s most-valuable listed group.
Maybank has 11.41 billion issued shares as at February 10, 2021, according to its latest annual report.
