18 May 2022
The Bank was the most awarded Malaysian company, sweeping three awards in FinanceAsia’s annual industry poll across eight Asian markets.
Kuala Lumpur: CIMB Group (“CIMB” or “the Group”) has clinched three awards in Asia’s Best Managed Companies 2022 poll organised by FinanceAsia. Scored with input from both investors and analysts throughout the region, CIMB was the most awarded Malaysian company in this year’s poll as it swept the awards for ‘Most Committed to Environmental Stewardship’, ‘Most Committed to Social Causes’ and ‘Best Investor Relations’ in Malaysia.
Held annually, the Asia's Best Managed Companies poll by FinanceAsia serves as a benchmark of the region's most influential companies by evaluating the corporate behaviour and performance of Asian peers over the past 12 months. These awards are a testament to the headway made by CIMB in advancing its environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) agenda, bringing it closer to achieving its ambition of becoming an ASEAN sustainability leader by 2024.
Dato’ Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Group Chief Executive Officer of CIMB Group said, “We are pleased to be recognised by the investor and analyst community at the Asia’s Best Managed Companies 2022 poll by FinanceAsia. These awards highlight our significant progress towards becoming an ASEAN sustainability leader as we play our part in realising a net-zero economy. Meanwhile, corporate responsibility remains a priority as we have committed RM150 million towards community investments over five years and 100,000 employee volunteerism hours annually by 2024 in order to bring about positive change and make a meaningful impact across the communities in which we operate,” he added.
In 2021, CIMB intensified its engagement with the investment community by holding its inaugural Sustainability Investor Day, where it also announced the Group’s enhanced sustainability commitments. These commitments include among others CIMB’s target to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions by 2050, including scope 3 and financed emissions. The Group also aims to mobilise RM30 billion in sustainable finance under CIMB’s Green, Social, Sustainable Impact Products and Services (“GSSIPS”) Framework by 2024, for which it is on track with RM25.9 billion already mobilised as at end-2021.
As a purpose-driven corporate citizen, the Group has been an active driver of high-impact initiatives across the region, with its corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) arm CIMB Foundation leading its programmes in Malaysia. CIMB’s CSR initiatives focus on four impact areas: education, health and community well-being, economic empowerment, and climate and environment. During the pandemic, CIMB also committed RM10 million in additional aid via its Komuniti Kita COVID-19 Relief project to provide immediate support to the national healthcare system and expand the Group’s CSR initiatives for communities in need across Malaysia.
The Group has also rolled out several initiatives to support those from the B40 and underprivileged communities through economic empowerment, such as the Program Keusahawanan Taylor’s-CIMB Islamic, the CIMB Islamic Rider Entrepreneur Programme and CIMB MicroBizReady. These initiatives seek to empower B40 entrepreneurs by providing them with training, mentorship and/or financial support in a meaningful bid to improve their livelihoods and help them grow their micro and small enterprises (“micro-SMEs”).
In 2021, CIMB achieved the 79th percentile ranking within the global banking industry in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (“CSA”), achieving its top quartile target under the Group’s Forward23+ strategic plan three years ahead of schedule. The S&P Global CSA is the basis used to assess companies for inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (“DJSI”) family of indices.
