KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 15): CIMB Group Holdings Bhd chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said the financial services provider will "take full advantage of what technology has to offer" to build its planned presence in the Philippines.
 
Rappler, quoting Nazir, reported today that CIMB is still waiting for the Philippines central bank's approval for a banking licence there.

“We will not be approaching the market here in the traditional way. We have to enter the market based on the unique features of the Filipino market, but at the same time, take full advantage of what technology has to offer today. We see pockets of opportunity in the Philippines, especially in the consumer market. There is still a lot of relatively unbanked population and also significantly under-leveraged population, in terms of mortgage, etc,” Nazir said.

“We are hoping to open CIMB in the Philippines. We submitted an application to the central bank of the Philippines. We haven’t heard back, but we are hopeful.”

Nazir said this in Manila, Rappler reported, where he attended the Asean Business & Investment Summit. According to the Asean Business & Investment Summit's website, the three-day event, which started on Sunday (Nov 12), ended yesterday (Nov 14).

Today, Rappler quoted Nazir as saying the Philippines will offer CIMB a complete presence in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region's 10 countries.

According to CIMB's website, the group already has a presence in nine Asean countries — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Nazir told Rappler: “It (the Philippines) completes Asean for us. I think we will bring a new franchise to the market, one where we provide our customers linkage with the rest of Asean in its entirety.”

At Bursa Malaysia today, CIMB shares settled at RM6.10 at 12:30pm, for a market value of RM56.28 billion. The stock saw some six million shares traded.