24 February 2023
To be attributed to Dato’ Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Group Chief Executive Officer of CIMB Group
We are pleased to see the Malaysian Government’s focus on driving sustainable economic growth through Malaysia MADANI Budget 2023. As Malaysia’s economy continues to recover, the prudent, targeted and inclusive approach taken provides an optimal balance in helping the Rakyat and businesses alike to navigate the ongoing uncertain environment.
In driving economic recovery, we are encouraged to see financing support for start-ups as well as small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”). These include, among others, RM2 billion in financing to support sustainable technology startups and to help SMEs adopt low carbon practices, as well as RM1 billion to help SMEs automate business process and digitalise their operations. The focus on sustainability as well as digitalisation will strengthen the growth and resilience of our SMEs, and ensure our economy is future-proofed. This is also aligned with CIMB Group’s sustainability agenda and our aspiration to become an ASEAN sustainability leader, where we recognise the critical role of financial institutions in catalysing the adoption of ESG-aligned practices.
We also welcome the focus on improving the vibrancy of Malaysia’s capital market. In particular, we welcome the proposed tax cut on listing expenses for the ACE and LEAP markets through 2025 and the listing expenses of technology-based companies on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia, in addition to the easing of the secondary listing process for private market instruments to improve liquidity as well as the efficiency of price discovery. The introduction of dual class share listings is also an encouraging development in stimulating the listing of high-growth technology companies domestically. Through CIMB Investment Bank, we will continue to play our part in actively promoting a more vibrant capital market.
In supporting the Government’s Islamic finance agenda, CIMB is committed to continue supporting Malaysia’s position as a leader in the global sukuk market and pioneer in this space. We welcome the Government’s focus on driving more active market participation as well as equitable distribution of wealth among the Rakyat through value-based intermediation (“VBI”).
We also laud the increase in the Amanah Saham Bumiputera (“ASB”) and Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 (“ASB2”) investment ceiling to RM300,000, which will increase Bumiputera equity ownership and participation and, in the long term, help to secure their financial resilience.
In addressing the issue of financial scams, we welcome the Government’s RM10 million allocation to the National Scam Response Centre (“NSRC”). CIMB is committed to supporting the enhanced security measures against scams as announced by Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”). CIMB has already implemented a self-service ‘kill-switch’ feature in our mobile banking apps, migrated from SMS TACs to SecureTAC authorisation for transactions of RM100 and above, and implemented single registered device for mobile banking authentication. We are on track and committed to implement measures to further strengthen banking security, and work together with our customers to combat scams.
As a financial intermediary, CIMB remains committed to engage with stakeholders across the private and public sectors and civil society in supporting the ambitions set out in Malaysia MADANI Budget 2023 for the benefit of the Rakyat. We are confident that together, we will be able to create an inclusive and resilient economy that will help all Malaysians to weather the challenging environment.
