Singapore – Maybank Singapore today celebrates the official launch of the Maybank Manchester United Platinum Visa Card with an exclusive meet-and-greet event for cardmembers. 100 Maybank Manchester United Platinum Visa cardmembers, who are ardent supporters of Manchester United, were thrilled with the opportunity to meet with former Manchester United players Denis Irwin and Paul Parker. The legends are accompanying the Premier League trophy on the Singapore leg of its South East Asian tour. At the event, cardmembers had the chance to take photographs with the coveted trophy and their favourite legends.

Maybank Singapore also invited 20 underprivileged children from the Balestier Khalsa Football Club, who are beneficiaries of the Central Singapore Community Development Council’s Free Kicks programme to meet the legends as well. The Bank had previously donated SGD4,000 worth of vouchers and soccer boots to 40 children under the Free Kicks programme. This aligns with the Bank’s CSR thrust of supporting aspiring youths and the underprivileged.

This one of a kind experience and being able to interact with legendary footballers offered to Maybank Manchester United cardmembers were added incentives for Manchester United fans to apply for the Card. Since its soft launch a month ago, the Bank has received better than expected response for the Maybank Manchester United Platinum Visa Card. This is truly a reflection of how well-loved the club is in Singapore and the distinct value the partnership with Manchester United brings to customers.

Future plans to launch the Maybank Manchester United Platinum Visa Debit Card in Singapore are well underway. The upcoming Debit Card is part of a regional Cards offering arising from this co-brand partnership. Slated for the second half of this year, the Bank aims to reach out to the larger Manchester United fan base, enabling more fans to enjoy Manchester United themed benefits and privileges.

Said Mr Alan Lau, Head, Consumer Banking, Maybank Singapore, “In the month since we introduced the Maybank Manchester United Platinum Visa Card, we had strong interest from customers, many of whom are loyal Manchester United fans. Beyond the regular benefits and privileges of a credit card, we wanted to offer privileges that have special meaning to Manchester United supporters. Today's event is one such example.

At the same time, we want to share this opportunity to meet these legendary football role models with the young footballers from underprivileged backgrounds.  We hope that meeting the United Legends in person would spur the youths from the Free Kicks programme in their pursuit of the sport.”

About Maybank

Maybank Group is the leading financial services provider in Malaysia catering to the needs of consumers, investors, entrepreneurs, non-profit organisations and corporations. The Group, which has expanded internationally, has the largest network among Malaysian banks of over 2,100 Branches and offices in 17 countries, employing 42,000 Maybankers and serving over 21 million customers. It also has the distinction of holding the largest asset base of more than USD 135 billion; and market capitalisation of USD 22.0 billion; with total equity and total net profit of USD 10.8 billion and USD 1.5 billion respectively.

A Qualifying Full Bank, Maybank Singapore has established a significant presence in the retail and wholesale banking markets in Singapore, with net asset size of SGD 32.6 billion (as at 31 December 2011) and staff strength of over 1,400.

Our network includes 27 service locations in Singapore, and we are also part of atm5 – Singapore's only shared ATM network among six QFBs with a combined reach of more than 130 touch points and 170 ATMs within Singapore.

Maybank Singapore believes that human resource is the Bank’s best asset. In 2009, Maybank became the first and only Bank to receive triple certification for Singapore Quality Class, Singapore Service Class and People Developer given out by SPRING Singapore. We pressed on in our pursuit for business excellence and in 2010, Maybank was awarded I-Class status by SPRING Singapore, becoming the first Bank in Singapore to achieve all four certifications at an enterprise level.

In the area of employee relations, we received the Excellence in Employee Engagement Award as part of The Asian Banker Excellence in Retail Financial Service Awards 2010. In addition, Maybank also received the Work-Life Excellence Award given out by the Tripartite Committee on Work-Life Strategy, becoming the only Bank to receive this award three times in a row in 2006, 2008 and 2010. In recognition of our fair and merit-based employment practices, Maybank was also conferred the inaugural Exemplary Employer Award given out by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) in 2010.

In 2011, Maybank Singapore reached another milestone in its business excellence journey by becoming the first and only financial institution to receive the People Excellence Award at an enterprise level. Awarded by the Singapore Quality Award Governing Council, this Award is a strong testament to the Bank’s people-first culture. Maybank Singapore is also the recipient of the Best Workplace Award given at the Singapore Compact CSR Awards 2011.