Published September 10, 2009

It's now 'one CIMB' after re-branding

Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings will be known as CIMB Group Holdings

By PAULINE NG
IN KUALA LUMPUR

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MALAYSIA'S second-largest banking group by assets yesterday completed its corporate re-branding exercise as the renamed CIMB Group Holdings, with the company's 1,150 branches throughout Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand now assuming a consistency in colour as well as look and feel.

Mr Nazir: It is due to him that the group is becoming a regional powerhouse, says 'FinanceAsia'

'From Chaing Rai to Bali, our 36,000 employees now answer to customers as one CIMB,' group chief executive Nazir Razak said at the launch of its new headquarters for its consumer franchises yesterday.

Even so, the bank was careful to keep some parts of its two high-profile constituents intact - namely Bank Bumiputra and Bank of Commerce - which, together with various other merged entities over the years, constitute the present CIMB.

With the 'historic name' Bumiputra-Commerce 'safely enshrined' on the new building, Mr Nazir said Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings would now be known as CIMB Group Holdings and trade as CIMB on the local bourse.

The 39-storey Menara Bumiputra-Commerce however is owned by government estate investment company Pelaburan Hartanah which bought the building from CIMB under a sale-and-leaseback arrangement earlier this year. It had paid RM460 million (S$187.5 million) for the building which has a net lettable area of 630,000 square feet.

CIMB plans to do a sale-leaseback for its other properties and branches. Its capital markets and investment banking division would be headquartered in another tower currently under construction and scheduled to be completed in 2012.

A cheerful Mr Nazir joked his new office faces that of Abdul Wahid Omar, chief executive of the country's largest banking group Maybank, 'with a view to watching what he's up to'.

Only last week, FinanceAsia awarded Mr Nazir its Lifetime Achiever's Award, making him at age 42 the youngest recipient of the honour. A younger brother of Prime Minister Najib Razak, Mr Nazir had joined CIMB in 1989 as an entry-level executive before being appointed its CEO 10 years later.

Given the breadth and scope of CIMB's offerings and its reach in South-east Asia, FinanceAsia noted the banking group was becoming a 'regional powerhouse' - and that was due to Mr Nazir.

Under his leadership, the bank has been involved in most of the major corporate deals in recent years, the latest being Genting Singapore's proposed S$1.63 billion rights issue of which CIMB-GK is helping to underwrite as part of a consortium of financiers.

A proponent of more merit-driven and market-friendly policies, the banker yesterday said he did not see why anyone would resist the idea of government-controlled conglomerate Sime Darby selling up to 10 per cent of its shares to a Chinese government-linked entity.

Although government officials have denied the existence of such a proposal, Mr Nazir said the idea was sound. 'From a general standpoint, I think the idea of encouraging a Chinese sovereign wealth fund to invest in Malaysia is a good one. Apart from the financial implications, it creates greater connectivity to that part of the world that is going to be the world's largest by 2035.'