KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — CIMB Group Holdings Bhd said the banking group’s priority this year is to build on its positive growth momentum while maintaining a focused approach to investing in areas of growth, such as affluent and wealth management, transaction banking, and ASEAN network business.
“Another focus area is technology and operations, where we plan to invest close to RM1.2 billion in 2022 as we accelerate digital transformation and further strengthen technology and operational resilience.
“As part of this technology investment, we look forward to introducing our Next Gen mobile banking app later this year,” said CIMB group chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad in a statement to the stock exchange after the company’s AGM which was held virtually today.
The bank’s key headline targets for 2022 included a return of equity of between 7.5 per cent to 8.0 per cent (or 8.5 per cent to 9.0 per cent excluding the impact of the one-off prosperity tax).
“Apart from that, we are looking at total loan growth of between 5.0 per cent and 6.0 per cent, cost to income ratio of below 49 per cent, and maintaining its common equity Tier 1 ratio above 13 per cent,” the bank said in the same statement.
The banking group saw recovery in its financial year 2021, with strong underlying performance across all business segments and geographies, while improved year-on-year performance was driven by solid growth in operating income, discipline in cost containment, and lower provisions in line with its target.
CIMB Group chairman Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad said “in 2021, we managed our stakeholder relationships with renewed care and purpose towards advancing customers and society.” — Bernama
