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19 September 2015

Kuala Lumpur: CIMB Group once again demonstrated its leading position in ASEAN in the derivatives and structured products space by winning six awards at The Asset Triple A Private Banking, Wealth Management and Investment Awards 2015 as follows:

 

  • Derivatives House of the Year, Malaysia
  • Best Structured Product House, Malaysia
  • Best Structured Product House, Indonesia
  • Best Structured Product House, Thailand
  • Best Credit Derivatives House, Malaysia
  • Best Structured Investment Product – Commodities (Gold Convertible & Reverse Gold Convertible Structured Products)

Tengku Dato’ Zafrul Aziz, Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group said, “I am very pleased that CIMB has once again evidenced outstanding market leadership and cutting edge expertise within the ASEAN region through the spirit of innovation and the ability to adapt to market challenges with agility, while at the same time meeting regulatory requirements. These awards testify to CIMB’s resilience and continued capacity to rise to the challenge of advancing the markets while putting customers’ needs as the key driver in product development. I would like to congratulate all our staff and specialists in structured products and derivatives for their dedication and hard work, and our sincere thanks to our clients in the region, without whom this success would not be possible.”

 

The Asset’s Triple A Private Banking, Wealth Management and Investment Awards 2015 are among the industry’s most prestigious awards, recognising the leading wealth management institutions as well as the premier financial institutions involved in derivatives and structured products in Asia-Pacific. The Asset, a leading financial publishing group in Asia-Pacific, has the widest audited reach among Asian issuers and global institutional investors active in the region.

 

The editors of The Asset adopt a rigorous approach in selecting the most deserving institutions and products. Point scores for both quantitative factors and qualitative factors are combined to determine a shortlist for each award. The Asset editorial team then conducts follow-up interviews and participates in presentations organized by the investors, investing institutions and product originators to make a final judgment.

 

As Derivatives House of the Year, Malaysia (awarded for seventh consecutive year) CIMB was recognised for its continued emphasis on the key markets of foreign exchange (FX), interest rates, credit, commodities, equities and hybrid derivatives, matching investor risk profiles. It continued to be the No. 1 issuer in the Ringgit-denominated interest rate product market in Malaysia (since 2005*) and issued structured investment issuances relating to interest rates utilizing the Range Accrual strategy where coupons are paid to clients whenever the KLIBOR rate stays within a predetermined set of ranges. Shariah-compliant solutions were also offered to cater to the Islamic investment market. CIMB had the largest FX market share in Malaysia, was the largest issuer of Credit Linked Notes to Private Banking/High Net Worth investors in Malaysia and created gold convertible products that allow investors to take advantage of both appreciation and depreciation of the commodity. CIMB was the only issuer to take advantage of index-linked warrants, structuring both put and call warrants on the FBM KLCI for both bullish and bearish investors. Meanwhile, CIMB’s Treasury and Markets division continued to provide bespoke structured solutions for its clients across the region with objectives including yield enhancement to liability hedging to balance sheet optimisation.

 

The triple accolades of Best Structured Product House in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand acknowledged CIMB’s depth of know-how and execution. In Malaysia (fourth consecutive year), new products such as the Funding Arbitrage Callable Flippable Power Range Accrual, Gold Convertible and Reverse Gold Convertible, China Growth Funding Arbitrage provided innovative investment solutions to investors. The Group also exhibited commendable effort in building the commodity business, one of the asset classes for which investors lacked opportunity.

 

In Indonesia, four product launches, fully utilising all asset classes permitted by the regulators, were the highlights of the year. This included the relaunch of the IDR denominated callable fixed rate market linked deposit or MLD (X-Tra Fixed Rate), as well as three new non-IDR denominated structured products – FX Linked MLD (X-Tra FX), Interest Rate Collar Payoff MLD (X-Tra Balance) and FX Range Accrual MLD (X-Tra FX Range Accrual). These products rode on the benefits of allowing early termination from the bank, currency exchange movement, interest rate cap and floor, and range accrual with FX as the underlying reference.

 

Highlights in Thailand (second consecutive year) included the THB denominated Callable Range Accruals Debenture (for both the retail and corporate space), Accreting Notional Bill of Exchange (a popular hedge and yield enhancement tool), and Callable Accreting Range Accruals Bill of Exchange (CARA), which combines the key benefits of the previous two products. The Callable Inverse Floater Debenture was structured to capture the opportunity from the impending THB policy rate cut. Another commodity linked structured product, the Bearish Gold Shark Fin Debentures provides a coupon that is higher as gold prices move lower.

 

CIMB’s enhancements to the credit derivatives market was recognised by the award for Best Credit Derivatives House, Malaysia with highlights including its notable Credit Linked Notes (CLNs) as well as its infrastructure development.

 

Best Structured Investment Product – Commodities (Gold Convertible Structured Product & Reverse Gold Convertible Structured Product). These were created to increase access to investment in commodities for our retail investors, through using commodity-linked instruments which have the potential to accrete substantial returns, more so in times of high volatility. These two products have opened up other avenues of returns from gold, apart from just appreciation in gold prices typical of the Gold Investment Account (“GIA”), allowing investors to take advantage of not just appreciation but also the depreciation of the underlying commodity i.e. gold.

 

*Asia Risk Interdealer Survey 

Receiving five awards on behalf of CIMB Group were Chong Lee Yee, Director, Structuring, Treasury & Markets, CIMB Investment Bank (right) while Bhudinan Sethanandha, Senior Vice President - Head of Structuring, Treasury Group, CIMB Thai received the award for Best Structured Product House, Thailand on behalf of CIMB Thai.