maybank

Recently, in line with the Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0, the Banking and Financial Services industries are undergoing revolutionary changes as well. Maybank, as the largest bank in Malaysia, adapts to the culture of change, allowing them to transform from a traditional bureaucratic banking environment to an innovative hub for the development of Financial Technology (FinTech).

To learn from the industry experts, students of the Banking & Finance and Islamic Banking & Finance programmes visited Maybank’s Innovation Centre recently, under the guidance of Ms. Ng Hui Chen & Ms. Ummi Kalthum from the School of Accounting & Finance.

​During their visit, the students went on a tour around the impressive workspaces of the Innovation Centre; and they were impressed by the environment that differed greatly from a traditional bank office. Ms. Sabrina Ema and Mr. Wong Kin Seng from Maybank delivered an inspiring talk during the visit; the visiting group was pleased to hear from them about how Maybank penetrated the culture of change and innovation in a traditional bureaucratic banking environment, as well as how Maybank built the FinTech ecosystem by providing assistance for the FinTech startups in Malaysia. The duo also shared insights on Maybank’s future directions, in which FinTech will be one of their main focus areas for 2020.

Another major focus of the industrial visit was also to share the values of entrepreneurship. Both Ms. Sabrina and Mr. Wong gave useful tips to our students on funding procedures and options as well as the necessary regulatory support required, for them to become successful entrepreneurs. As Maybank has funded many startups in FinTech, the advice was extremely useful and we were pleased to listen to those stories of experience.

We have been maintaining a good industry-academia relationship with Maybank, while many of our alumni have embarked on interesting careers with Maybank. Through this visit to Maybank’s Innovation Centre, we look forward to seeing our students contributing to their growth as FinTech professionals of the future.  

We are proud to announce that Babar Naveed, our student of Media Marketing programme, achieved as one of the finalists as well as the winner of the Consolation Prize at the #MakeItYourM2u mobile banking UI/UX design competition. The final presentation and prize giving ceremony took place on Thursday, 9 April 2015 at Dewan Sri Pinang, Kuala Lumpur.
 
The competition was organised by Maybank, in which students were expected to design website screens of the Maybank2u mobile application. 60 participants from various universities in Malaysia took part in this competition; and 10 finalists were selected for the final presentation. 
 
Congratulations and thumbs up to Babar for the amazing achievement!

10 APU lecturers visited Menara Maybank and were welcomed by Datin Morni, the Head of Group Resourcing from Maybank, joined by Sophia Ang, Head of Talent Attraction, Surin Segar, Head of Group Technology and the Global Maybank Apprentices. 

The aim of the visit is to introduce about Maybank and current opportunities the Bank has for APU students. The Bank has also invited the Global Maybank Apprentices, fresh graduates who have graduated long too long ago who are now working with Maybank to share their working experiences thus far with the Bank. In fact, two of our APU students, both Arina Kungeibayava and Olga Zhuk from Kazakhstan are enrolled in the programme right now. 

The Global Maybank Apprentice Programme is the Bank’s award-winning apex Programme for graduates, a specially designed two-year on-the-job rotation programme which includes a three-month international assignment to encourage cross-border exposure and network among young talents. The beauty of this programme is that the Maybank Apprentices are able to customise their rotations based on their interest and personal preference and foster personal growth through mentoring. The program is not limited to only graduates from business disciplines but also attracts graduates from a wide range of academic backgrounds, and of course, we recruit both Malaysians and non-Malaysians as well. 

Apart from the normal route of application, many of their Maybank Apprentices from their award-winning graduate management trainee programme, Global Maybank Apprentice (GMAP) are recruited through the Maybank GO Ahead. Challenge (MGAC), a student competition organised by Maybank since 2012, in which APU has been a strong supporter and hosted the competition since 2014. Throughout the visit, the APU lecturers experienced a small part of the MGAC Campus Levels case study, the exact same challenges that the students went through! 

The essence of MGAC differs from other business case competitions as it is the first student competition in the region that challenges participants in both financial and non-financial disciplines. MGAC has first started in 2012, and the number of applications closed off at 37,000 across 104 nationalities last year.  A series of obstacles tests their business acumen, problem-solving skills, emotional and cultural intelligence. Participants are exposed to real-life pressures and expectations of a high performing organisation, like Maybank. 

MGAC encompasses a fair mix of 50% technical and 50% non-technical challenges. Both these components have been weaved into the case studies and the challenges. For example, while the participants harness their technical skills by building their companies from scratch and going through the cycles of business, we ensure we inject non-technical challenges such as a virus attack that completely wipe off their work hours before their presentation to the ‘Board of Directors’. The virus was planted to test their resilience and the ability to think off their feet. The teams had to resort to using typewriters and overhead projectors – tools that the millennials nowadays had no experience with. 

The application for MGAC 2017 is now open and we do encourage all students to join! For more information & application, visit http://tiny.cc/mgac2017.  

The battle has begun! 

As we actively shared the news of APU championing the University Leaderboard of Maybank Go Ahead Challenge 2016, our students also fought hard through the Maybank Go Ahead Challenge 2016 – Campus Level, which was held at APU recently. 

10 of our students excelled in the Campus Level, as they demonstrated high level of teamwork and determination as they completed several challenges throughout the day. As such, they were selected to represent APU at the National Finals, which will be held on the 1st of August 2016. Nyagoslav Konstatinov Zhekov, student of the Master of Finance programme, was crowned as the Campus Champion. Apart from Nyagoslav, the students who will be representing APU in the National Finals are:

1.      Shakhira Zharimbetova – BA (Hons) in Marketing Management
2.      Nusratzoda Abdurakhmoni – Bachelor of Banking And Finance (Hons)
3.      Ridwan Al Farizi Kusumawidya – BA (Hons) in International Business Management
4.      Teshwiniswarran - BSc (Hons) in Software Engineering
5.      Adel Maratova – BSc (Hons) in Software Engineering
6.      Farah Nurathira Binti Abdul Waris – BA (Hons) in Accounting And Finance
7.      Chia Zhi Yun – BSc (Hons) in Enterprise Computing 
8.      Mubarak Gbolahan Showole – BSc (Hons) in Information Technology
9.      Baali Omar – BA (Hons) in Marketing Management

The Maybank Go Ahead Challenge – Campus Level took place this year on Saturday, 30 May 2015 at APU Campus, TPM. The annual challenge is an international case competition that challenges the participants’ intellect, stretches their creative ability and tests their endurance. Several APU students who took part in the challenge last year secured internships and job opportunities with Maybank Malaysia. Mr Gurpardeep Singh, Vice President of Operations, officiated the event with an opening speech.

This year, the campus level challenge saw participation of 85 students from APU. Although they were tested both mentally and physically, the students demonstrated high endurance and outstanding teamwork as they ran around the APU Main Campus building to complete various challenges, such as playing a futsal game in sumo suits and painting a masterpiece and then selling it to the assessors within a given timeframe. Assessors for the painting challenge were Mr Vijay Reddy, APU and Ms. Sophia , Head of Talent Branding, Maybank.

After a competitive day, 17 students from APU were selected to enter the National Level Maybank Go Ahead Challenge, which will be held on Wednesday, 5 August, at Menara Maybank, Kuala Lumpur. Winners at the National level will eventually enter the Grand Finals, in which they stand a chance to win attractive cash prizes, all-expenses-paid overseas internship opportunities with Maybank, as well as be a part of the Maybank family through the Global Maybank Apprentice Programme. The apprentice programme offers interns a holistic learning experience with customised on-the-job rotations; international assignments and face-to-face development interventions through a dedicated coach and mentor.

All the best to the 17 students who entered the national level; hopefully they will succeed in the upcoming challenges and bring pride to themselves and APU.