CIMB Group plans to open Philippine branch by 2018

CIMB Group releases their 2015 financial year results by their Group CEO Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz and Group CFO Shahnaz Jammal. Reporter Yvonne Tan. 25 feb 2016 chan tak kong / the star

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, which aims to complete its footprint in Asean by 2018, plans to set up its Philippine operations from scratch instead of going through a merger and acquisition exercise.

Currently, the bank had already established a wide presence in Asean, with Vietnam and the Philippines being the final two missing pieces.

Chief executive Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said CIMB would begin operations of its Vietnamese branches in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi by year-end.

“The Philippines is still in our radar screen but we will do it at the right time. Perhaps it will not be done through mergers and acquisitions but more towards organic growth expansion.

“This is because the Philippines has liberalised the regulations on foreign shareholdings, so we will not discount the possibility of starting a branch there from scratch,” he told a press conference after announcing the group’s 2015 financial year results here on Thursday.

CIMB Group posted a pre-tax profit of RM3.91bil in 2015 compared with RM4.28bil in 2014, on the back of a bigger revenue of RM15.39bil against RM14.15bil previously. - Bernama