Group CEO Abdul Rahman Ahmad said the group would bolster its deposits and current account and savings account (CASA) franchise, transaction banking as well as regional Asean network business.
Alongside this, he noted that the group has also made great headway in security improvements and technology resiliency.
“We have invested RM2.7 billion in the last three years, with another RM1 billion committed this year, to further enhance our digital platforms.
“This included the launch of our new mobile banking application (app) CIMB OCTO in Malaysia together with refreshed apps for our Singapore and Indonesia markets,” he said in a statement in conjunction with the banking group’s 66th annual general meeting held today.
Rahman said CIMB is further committed and on schedule to implement all the security initiatives mandated by Bank Negara Malaysia to strengthen safeguards against financial scams, including the “kill switch” feature in its mobile banking apps.
“This (kill switch feature) enables customers to immediately freeze their own online banking ID if they detect any unusual or suspicious activity with their accounts.
“We have also tightened further our fraud detection rules and triggers for blocking suspected scam transactions,” he added.
According to the statement, CIMB has accelerated its environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda across the business and made measurable progress towards achieving its ambition of becoming an Asean sustainability leader by 2024.
“As a testament to this, CIMB achieved the 80th percentile on the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment in line with its Forward23+ target to achieve the top quartile by 2024,” the bank said.
In addition, Rahman noted that the Forward23+ strategic plan was first formulated in 2020 based on creating sustainable shareholder value through meaningful improvements to the group’s annualised return on equity (ROE).
“As we move past the midpoint and with two years to go, our strategy is making positive headway with strong momentum towards delivering our ambition of becoming the leading focused Asean bank by 2024,” he added.
As such, CIMB said it has set its headline targets for 2023 to include an ROE of between 10.2% and 11%, total loan growth of 5% to 6%, a cost-to-income ratio (CIR) of below 46.5%, and maintaining its common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio above 13%.