10 June 2015

Maybank Foundation Scholarships worth RM14.2 Million in 2015

June 10, 2015 – Maybank Foundation today presented its annual Maybank Group Scholars Awards to 66 new deserving top students as part of its ongoing corporate responsibility commitment towards education. The awards scheme is part of the Group’s efforts in supporting the country’s human capital development as well as enabling deserving students to pursue their dreams.

This year, the scholarship ceremony was even more significant with the inclusion of a visually impaired student. The student, Ms Chew Sui Teng will be enrolling in a Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) course, majoring in Education and will pursue her studies at the Sultan Idris Education University.

In addition to the 66 new students, Maybank Foundation will also continue to fund 158 existing scholars who are currently in their second, third or fourth year of studies this year. The total scholarship payout for 2015 to all 224 students is RM14.2 million.

The Maybank Foundation Scholarships are much sought after as they are granted to deserving students to pursue tertiary studies in top universities, locally or abroad in courses related business management or financial services. A total of 50 scholarships have been awarded this year. These scholarship recipients will be bonded with Maybank for three years if they pursue their studies locally or five years, if overseas.

Apart from these scholarships, Maybank also has a special “sponsorship” category which is dedicated to outstanding students from families with household income of below RM24,000 a year. A total 16 of these awards were presented to students from this category this year. They are allowed to pursue studies in financial-related disciplines or any field that are priorities under the nation’s Economic Transformation Programme, such as medicine, architecture, education, geophysics to name a few. These awards carry no obligatory bond.

All the 2015 scholarship awards were presented today by Puan Nora Manaf, Group Chief Human Capital Officer of Maybank at a special ceremony held in Menara Maybank.

Speaking at the event, Nora said “This year, we received over 10,740 applications, an increase of 11% from last year. The award recipients here comprise 0.61% of this year’s total application. The large number of applications shows the competitive level of our students and their hunger to pursue an education for their betterment in life. More importantly, the increase in applications year on year demonstrates the attractiveness of Maybank as the preferred employer of choice amongst the nation’s young, brightest minds.”

Added Nora, “At Maybank, we are committed to contribute to the growth of the communities in the 20 countries we have presence in. Besides developing the financial services sector, Maybank also contributes to the economic and social development of the countries, via our corporate responsibility initiatives, which encompass Education. Last year, our expenditures in corporate responsibility (CR) reached 1.1% of our profits, the bulk of which were in education, healthy living and community empowerment. Scholarships for tertiary education remain a large component of our disbursements to support and encourage the brightest young talents in Asia, especially students who are academically inclined from lower income families to pursue higher education.”

"It is also one of our platforms to recruit future talents to continue with our Group’s aspiration. Since the Programme began in 1972, we have given over 1,200 scholars vast opportunities to grow in their career and contribute to the growth of Maybank Group," she said.

Nora also added that the attractive feature of the scholarship was the opportunity to build a rewarding career with Maybank which has been recognised among the top 20 strongest banks in the world by Bloomberg Market magazine and the fourth largest bank in Southeast Asia by assets.

“I am excited that this year, as part of our efforts in leveraging on the ASEAN Economic Community, we are introducing the ASEAN Internship Programme. This programme is part of the MY ASEAN Internship Programme that has been launched in January 2015, a collaboration between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Talent Corporation Malaysia to increase awareness of ASEAN among youth in Malaysia. Our Maybank scholars will for the first time be doing their internships for a minimum of a 2-month period at any Maybank office in the ASEAN countries for them to gain global literacy to perform effectively in different demographics. This international exposure is aligned with Maybank’s talent development programme to nurture our talents to also compete successfully in a global environment,” added Nora Manaf.

Nora further said that the Maybank scholars come from a diverse group of communities and will be pursuing studies in a range of academic disciplines in local and overseas universities. "This reflects Maybank’s philosophy of embracing diversity and inclusiveness. It is aligned with Maybank’s global presence and supports our aspiration to be a regional financial services leader, operating from the heart of Asia where talents with international exposure and different disciplines enrich and complement the people in our Group."

“Our selection criteria are rigorous and applicants must obtain a minimum of 6As in the 2014 SPM. Subsequently, they will have to go through an intense selection process which include online assessments and face-to-face interviews.”

“They are then assessed on their leadership competencies based on a business case study to ensure that we select well-rounded candidates who will benefit from the opportunity Maybank provides.”

The Maybank Scholarship Award encompasses financial support including registration and tuition fees, living allowances, accommodation, medical check-up reimbursements, a laptop and paid practical training for the scholars. All recipients will be nurtured by the Bank to develop them professionally and personally for a rewarding career with the Maybank Group via career preparatory stints such as internship programs, business assignments, personal and leadership development skills, among others.

Apart from the scholarships in Malaysia, Maybank Foundation also currently offers scholarships to students in Indonesia totalling an equivalent of RM2.8 Million. There are currently 33 scholars from there pursuing tertiary education in Indonesia as well as in selected universities in Malaysia and Singapore.