A Malaysian bank in which Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's family business interest has a large equity stake, has given a S$1.5 million (RM3.6 million) sponsorship for Singapore football.

According to The New Paper , a sister paper of Singapore's Straits Times , RHB Bank which has seven branches in Singapore will be the title sponsor for the Singapore Cup for the next three years.

It will also be the product sponsor of the S-League for the next three seasons.

After the deal was done, RHB group executive chairperson Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, 36, and younger son of Sarawak's long-serving chief minister, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that the event marked the beginning of the bank's active involvement in the development of sports, particular Singapore football.

"With the Singapore team's recent success on the international stage, it is indeed an opportune time for us to get involved," he added.

Sulaiman explained the reason for bank's tie-up with Singapore football.

"We want to build our brand name and market presence in Singapore and we believe in partnership with champions," Sulaiman was quoted as saying.

"Just as in sports, we believe that there are mutual benefits to the reaped from our business investment in Singapore."

The S-League is to make this year's Singapore Cup the most exciting format so far, with the 10 local teams to be joined by four foreign teams. The draw for the RHB Singapore Cup was held during the weekend.

First time

According to The New Paper , the RHB Bank's deal marks the first time a major financial institution is sponsoring Singapore football.

As a product sponsor of the S-League, RHB Bank will support other Football Association of Singapore programmes such as the national teams, youth development, community football and women's football.

Singapore Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs associate professor Ho Peng Kee said the S-League was proud to welcome RHB Bank as the new title sponsor of the Singapore Cup and product sponsor for the S-League.

It was evident that the bank believed in the potentials of Singapore football from the long-term three-year sponsorship deal, he added.