CIMB puts China at heart of growth push

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Building on burgeoning trade flows, Malaysian bank is opening offices on the mainland and linking with key companies such as Alibaba

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Although Malaysian-based CIMB is looking northwards, it retains a strong network in regional markets, including Indonesia. Photo: AFP

George ChenandRay Chan

Published: 12:00am, 19 Aug 2013Updated: 8:18am, 19 Aug 2013

Regional banking group CIMB, which acquired key Asian assets of Royal Bank of Scotland last year, is targeting China for rapid business expansion outside its home market in Malaysia.

In April last year, the Kuala Lumpur-based investment and consumer banking group agreed to pay US$140 million for some Asian assets of loss-making RBS, which was bailed out by the British government during the 2008 financial crisis.

Now chief executive Nazir Razak is aiming to open new offices in China, with a view to expanding the group's presence in the world's No2 economy.

"Malaysia has already become the third-biggest trading partner of China after Japan and South Korea, with annual bilateral trade volume generating more than US$100 billion," Betty Zhao, the head of CIMB's China investment banking unit, told the .

"We want to be part of the growth story and help bilateral trade grow further," added Zhao, a former senior RBS banker in Hong Kong who decided to stay with CIMB following the CIMB-RBS deal last year.

China is already the largest trading partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes most of the major economic powers in the region, such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Zhao, a television producer-turned banker who led a number of major transactions during her days at JP Morgan and RBS in Asia, said CIMB recently won approval from China's banking regulator to set up a branch in Shanghai, which would serve as an important platform for the bank to grow new clients and businesses in the country.