This article was originally published in the Brand Finance Global 500 2026 report.
Maybank is among Southeast Asia’s most valuable banking brands, with its brand value rising over 4% to USD5.4 billion in the Brand Finance Global 500 2026 rankings. In an environment shaped by uneven growth, rising expectations, and accelerating regional integration, competitive advantage in banking increasingly depends on the ability to deliver trust, consistency, and relevance at scale. Guided by its long-standing purpose of Humanising Financial Services, Maybank combines disciplined governance, deep regional connectivity, and customer-centric digital investment to support real economies across ASEAN. In a recent interview with Brand Finance, Dato’ Sri Khairussaleh Ramli, President & Group CEO of Maybank, shares how a clear sense of purpose continues to translate into durable brand equity and sustained brand value growth across diverse markets.
Interview with Dato' Sri Khairussaleh Ramli
Maybank’s brand value increased by over 4% to USD5.4 billion in the Global 500 2026 report. What factors have most directly supported this brand value growth across diverse market conditions?
Khairussaleh Ramli
President & Group CEO,
Maybank
Our growth in brand value reflects the strength of what we’ve built, and the consistency with which we’ve delivered it. Over the past year, we’ve reinforced the fundamentals that matter most in the financial services: trust, relevance and consistency across every market we serve.
The conclusion of the M25+ strategy reinforced these foundations. Digital investments improved customer centricity and access, while disciplined risk management and governance sustained confidence. Maybank also remained closely aligned with the real economy, supporting businesses, facilitating trade, and mobilising capital for ASEAN’s transition priorities. Initiatives such as Invest ASEAN Malaysia 2025, co-hosted with Bursa Malaysia, reinforced its role as a regional convenor linking policymakers, investors, and enterprises.
Our growth was guided by purpose rather than expansion alone. Maybank’s commitment to Humanising Financial Services provides a consistent framework across diverse markets, reinforcing familiarity, trust, and long-term relevance. This clarity of intent and delivery continues to translate into durable brand equity and sustained brand value growth.
Humanising Financial Services has been Maybank's mission since 2011 and over the subsequent time, the banking industry has changed markedly. How has your interpretation and application changed over that time and what does it mean today?
Humanising Financial Services remains constant in intent, but its application has evolved as the role of banks expand. Introduced in 2011 with a focus on fairness, accessibility and respect, the purpose has deepened as expectations of banks have expanded beyond transactions to long term outcomes.
Today, institutions are expected to understand context as well as consequences. This shapes how Maybank designs products, deploys technology, and allocates capital. Humanising Financial Services now means reducing friction, expanding inclusion, and ensuring that our collective growth is shared in ways that strengthen livelihoods and communities.
As we enter our next strategic phase, this purpose remains our anchor. While strategies and markets will continue to evolve, the responsibility to serve people well remains unchanged. Humanising Financial Services has become a shared discipline across the Group, guiding decisions at scale and reinforcing Maybank’s role as a bank that grows with its stakeholders.
Large financial institutions often face challenges balancing scale with differentiation. How does Maybank build a unique and unified positioning across all its markets and business divisions?
Maybank’s differentiation is anchored in a single purpose across a diverse regional footprint, while allowing each market to respond to local realities. Reinforced through our M25+ strategy, this alignment ensures customers experience Maybank as one institution across geographies, with local teams retaining the autonomy to adapt to regulatory, economic, and cultural contexts.
Our differentiation is also shaped by strategic focus. Maybank has built depth in areas structurally important to ASEAN, including SME banking, Islamic finance, and sustainable finance, supporting more than 800,000 SMEs across the region.
By staying closely connected to real economies, Maybank has achieved scale without diluting identity. Consistency in principles, reliability in execution, and relevance in offerings continue to strengthen trust as the Group expands its regional footprint.
Maybank has spoken about building a ‘bionic workforce’ combining human expertise with digital capability. What skills and capabilities are most critical for Maybank’s workforce today?
For Maybank, a bionic workforce reflects the value created when human expertise and technology work together. As banking becomes more digital and data driven, human judgement, ethics, and accountability are increasingly important, with technology enhancing capability while trust is built through its application.
We’ve focused on combining digital fluency with a strong understanding of customers, markets, and risk, supported by an adaptable mindset across the Group. This capability remains central to navigating change, serving stakeholders, and sustaining long term growth.
Maybank has strengthened its role in cross-border trade and regional capital flows, including partnerships that expand foreign exchange, payments and Shariah-compliant solutions for businesses across ASEAN and China. How does regional connectivity contribute to your strategic positioning and long-term brand relevance?
ASEAN’s growth has increasingly been defined by connectivity across trade, capital and supply chains. Operating across all ten ASEAN markets, Maybank is positioned to support businesses as they expand beyond domestic borders and navigate cross border complexity.
Regional connectivity matters to our positioning because it depends on consistency and trust over time. Capabilities in cross border payments, trade finance, foreign exchange, and Shariah compliant solutions provide the infrastructure that enables businesses to plan, invest, and operate with confidence as markets integrate.
Within the halal economy, Shariah-compliant offerings also serve as an important bridge between ASEAN and partners in China, reinforcing shared standards and long-term relationships. Together, these capabilities support Maybank’s relevance as regional integration deepens. Regional connectivity anchors Maybank’s relevance by embedding the brand in the realities of ASEAN integration. This positions Maybank as an institution shaped by the region, rather than any single market.
Across ASEAN, governments are advancing national transition roadmaps and net-zero commitments. How does Maybank support this agenda?
ASEAN’s net zero ambitions are advancing across diverse economic and social contexts. Maybank supports a responsible transition that balances environmental goals with economic continuity.
We work with clients to build credible transition pathways, integrating climate considerations into risk management, financing decisions, and sector frameworks where decarbonisation will take time. This is supported by the Net Zero White Paper, which outlines reference pathways across key industries.
Maybank’s role is to help align governments, businesses, and capital, providing transition financing that reflects regional realities and supports long term resilience across ASEAN.
