CIMB targets ASEAN expansion

CIMB Group is eyeing mergers and acquisitions to expand its Southeast Asian franchise.

Group chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said the CIMB group aimed to be a top three bank in South-East Asia by market capitalisation and asset size. It was also targeting to be in the top three for return on equity among Asean banks. It is currently ranked fifth in Southeast-Asia in terms of size.

The bank aims to grow its market capitalisation to RM100bil from RM61.3bil by 2015.

The CIMB group expects its Malaysian business to contribute less than 40% of its pre-tax profit and commercial banking, more than 60% to its income across the region by 2015.

Nazir said there was a possibility the group would acquire banks in the region, particularly in Thailand as the group's banking business there was progressing well.

“We are proving ourselves to play a bigger hand in the future,” he said of the performance of CIMB Thai.

He said a missing piece to the group's regional strategy was a bank in the Philippines and that the group would consider making a move should an opportunity to acquire a financial institution there arose.