CIMB (CIMBMK)
Malaysia / Banking
Active
Issuer Summary
CIMB is a major bank holding company that conducts commercial banking, Islamic banking, wholesale banking, wealth, and investment banking operations across multiple ASEAN markets, centered on Malaysia. It is an investment-grade banking group supported by a leading ASEAN business scale, deposit franchise, improved asset quality, adequate capital, and regional diversification. At the same time, NIM compression, the holding-company structure, capital returns, and asset quality at regional subsidiaries require continued monitoring. The direction is stable. Investors should distinguish between CIMB Group Holdings debt and banking subsidiary debt, and should monitor NIM, CASA, credit costs, CET1, capital returns, Wholesale earnings, and asset quality at CIMB Niaga, Singapore, and Thai.
CIMB Group Holdings Berhad is a major bank holding company based in Malaysia. From a credit perspective, it should be viewed not merely as a domestic Malaysian bank, but as a full-service ASEAN banking group centered on Malaysia and extending into Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and other markets. As of May 7, 2026, the latest parent-level financial results that can be confirmed are the results for the fiscal year ended December 2025, announced on February 27, 2026, while the AGM-related release dated April 29, 2026 should be treated as supplementary material. As of that date, the company’s IR page does not show results for 1Q 2026, so the quantitative assessment in this report is based on the fiscal year ended December 2025.
In conclusion, CIMB is a banking group with investment-grade stability. Supporting factors include its business scale as a leading ASEAN bank, a deep deposit base centered on Malaysia, an improving non-performing loan ratio, adequate capital, and earnings sources across multiple markets. For FY2025, net profit was MYR7.9bn, ROE was 11.3%, the gross impaired loans ratio was 1.7%, and allowance coverage was 103.2%. The CET1 ratio was 14.9% and the total capital ratio was 18.6%, providing comfortable headroom even for a bank holding company. Earnings, asset quality, and capital are not deteriorating simultaneously.
At the same time, it would be somewhat complacent to view CIMB only as a highly defensive bank. NIM in FY2025 was 2.13%, down from 2.21% in 2024. In a falling-rate environment, loan yields tend to decline first, and it is difficult to absorb this solely through lower deposit costs. CIMB’s strong 2025 performance should be understood not as the result of margin expansion, but as having been supported by a combination of deposit mix, non-interest income, markets-related income, capital allocation, and low credit costs. Therefore, rather than treating 2025 profit as the normal run-rate for the future, it is closer to reality to characterize the year as one in which multiple supports absorbed NIM compression.
Issuer Reports
Current public reports for this issuer.