Three business heads have been let go
By: Tricia Ang | 31 March 2021
The ASEAN universal bank is revising its strategy to emphasise sustainable growth, in line with the group’s vision to be a leading focused Asean bank.
As part of its restructuring exercise, CIMB Singapore plans on laying off staff and will close its Orchard Road branch. This will optimise its functional set-up and leverage its group strengths through regionalization.
“These will make us more resilient, more productive and better positioned for growth going forward,” CIMB Singapore chief executive Victor Lee said in an internal memo seen by The Business Times.
Re-focus in Singapore
CIMB Singapore will be positioned as an Asean banking hub for the group, focusing on wealth management, SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) banking, regional corporates and treasury and markets. The bank had about 1,200 staff in Singapore. After the restructuring, only its Raffles Place branch will remain.
“Singapore is a core and important market to the CIMB Group, and we will continue to invest in our key growth areas” CIMB Singapore said in a statement.
Following a review of its operations, CIMB let go of three of its business heads in Singapore in November 2020, citing poor performance brought about by the pandemic.
