KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd will leverage on its partnership with China Galaxy International Financial Holdings Ltd and assist in fundraising activities for regional investments under China’s One Belt, One Road (Obor) programme.
CIMB group chief executive officer Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the banking group would also develop the capital markets in this
region so that companies in Southeast Asia could work together with their Chinese counterparts.
“The first step in relation
to the Belt and Road initiative, in terms of investments, will be mainly in infrastructure through our partnership with China Galaxy.
“Secondly, we will look at further developing the capital markets in this region where companies can work together with their Chinese counterparts to develop their businesses.
“We hope to see more mergers and acquisitions, co-investments and partnerships between Southeast Asia and companies from the Belt and Road initiative,” he said on the sidelines of CIMB’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house, here, on Sunday.
Tengku Zafrul said all banks in the region would benefit from Obor-related investments and CIMB would do its part to be “infrastructure-ready and support-ready”.
He said it was crucial that banks in the region started forming partnerships with banks in other countries.
On the partnership with China Galaxy, where the Chinese company would take up a 50 per cent conditional stake in CIMB Securities, Tengku Zafrul said CIMB was awaiting the completion of the strategic joint venture by the end of this year, pending regulatory approvals.
He said CIMB was seeing good pick-up rate from users of Alipay, who were mainly from China.
“We are involved in the settlement side and we are ramping up services for people who have Alipay.
“It is not yet a big market for Malaysians but it is definitely a big market for tourists who come to Malaysia, especially those from China. It will be big market one day.”
Online and mobile payment platform Alipay is an alternative cashless payment mode for Chinese tourists in Malaysia.
Tengku Zafrul also said CIMB had a positive outlook for the bond market, which the bank expected to perform better than last year.
He said the market had recently seen quite a number of issuances coming for infrastructure as well as utility projects.
In Malaysia, CIMB expects to play a dominant role in the sukuk market this year.