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Sustainability Framework & Approach

Stakeholder Engagement

Banking is built on trust. This is a core belief at CIMB. We practice it by engaging with our customers, employees, regulators, investors, suppliers and local communities across our markets. This is how we gain trust. The perspectives of our stakeholders provide essential insights that shape our priorities, challenge our assumptions, and inform our decisions; they guide us in building solutions that reflect the needs of the people and businesses we serve.

Customers

Customers are why we exist. They are fundamental to our purpose and long-term success. Through day-to-day interactions across branches, digital platforms and service channels, we gain a deep understanding of the expectations and experiences of our customers. These insights inform how we design products, deliver services and address issues in ways that are consistent, effective and fair.

  • Conduct annual and post-interaction surveys to gather customer feedback

  • Interact directly with customers at branches and call centres, and through relationship managers

  • Maintain accessible channels for feedback, enquiries and complaints

  • Share timely updates via SMS, email and digital platforms

  • Acknowledge customer loyalty through appreciation initiatives and reward programmes

  • Seamless and reliable customer experience

  • Reliability and stability of digital platforms

  • Data privacy, cybersecurity and the rising threat of scams

  • Accessible and sustainable finance options

  • Fair and flexible financing terms

  • Simplified processes to make banking faster, easier and more efficient

  • Achieved 99.95% and 99.97% service uptime for retail and non-retail banking platforms, respectively

  • Strengthened customer education and safeguards on scam prevention, data privacy and cybersecurity

  • Broadened sustainable finance offerings with more tailored, flexible and accessible solutions

  • Launched new offerings tailored to support small businesses and vulnerable individuals

  • Hosted engagements and events to build financial literacy and confidence

Employees

Our people shape CIMB. Through serving customers and engaging with communities across the region, they uplift CIMB in the minds of our stakeholders. We regularly interact via surveys, conversations and engagement platforms; we acknowledge their needs, identify barriers and strengthen ways of working. Shaping how we work together while creating space for building meaningful careers. This is how we build trust internally for the good of the organisation’s growth.

  • Hold regular forums between senior management and employees, including quarterly Group CEO townhalls and departmental townhalls

  • Conduct organisation-wide employee surveys

  • Facilitate structured performance reviews and regular check-ins between employees and supervisors

  • Enable career development dialogues, mentorship programmes and learning initiatives

  • Provide onboarding sessions for new hires at all levels

  • Share key updates through multiple internal communication channels

  • Host employee engagement and recognition initiatives

  • Maintain channels for employees to raise feedback, concerns and suggestions

  • Engage proactively with employee unions

  • Corporate culture, values and leadership

  • Employee well-being and work-life balance

  • Diversity, equity and inclusion

  • Performance management, compensation and benefits

  • Career development, learning and succession planning

  • Internal processes and technological support

  • Collective bargaining agreements

  • Embedded EPICC values into daily work practices, communications and decision-making, including 360-degree performance reviews and talent programmes

  • Launched initiatives to embed a purpose-driven work culture through leadership communications and employee engagement activities

  • Enhanced annual employee surveys and tracked follow-up action plans

  • Upheld equal opportunities, fair treatment and competitive compensation

  • Refreshed the flexible benefits programme, expanding claimable items and strengthening coverage for employees’ dependants

  • Enhanced occupational health, safety and well-being efforts, addressing both physical and mental wellness

  • Supported career development through Navigate My Career and leadership programmes, including CIMB Signature Leadership Programmes

  • Reviewed and strengthened succession pipelines to cultivate a diverse and well- prepared leadership team

  • Simplified internal processes to improve efficiency and employee experience, leveraging on technology and artificial intelligence

  • Engaged with employee unions on new internal policies and fair remuneration, with structured consultation to strengthen labour relations

Investors

Investors are a key stakeholder in shaping CIMB’s strategic direction and long-term vision. Through regular dialogue and transparent disclosures, we communicate our progress and understand expectations relating to governance, performance, risk and sustainability as these increasingly shape investment decisions.

  • Provide regular financial and sustainability updates through quarterly briefings and at the Annual General Meeting

  • Publish financial presentations and analyst briefing recordings on CIMB’s investor relations website

  • Maintain dialogue with investors, fund managers, stewardship teams and credit rating agencies through roadshows and one-on-one meetings

  • Governance, ethics and risk management

  • Cybersecurity and data privacy

  • Physical and transition climate risks, including targets, strategies and disclosures

  • Nature and human rights-related safeguards

  • Engagement with clients in high-risk sectors

  • Diversity, equity and inclusion

  • Sustainable finance goals and approaches

  • Aligned sustainability disclosures with IFRS S1 and S2 to enhance consistency, comparability and decision-usefulness

  • Published disclosures on nature-related risks and human rights saliency assessments to improve transparency on emerging environmental and social risks

  • Shared climate, forest and water-related data through recognised external platforms, including the Carbon Disclosure Project

  • Maintained regular and proactive engagement with investors

Regulators

The regulatory environment shapes how financial institutions operate and build confidence in the financial system. Through regular dialogue and consultations, we engage with financial regulators and other policymakers to align with national priorities, share regional insights and support the effective implementation of responsible financing frameworks.

  • Hold regular one-on-one meetings with regional regulators

  • Support regulatory audits and reviews, and provide timely updates

  • Participate in policy-level dialogues with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), other financial regulators and industry peers, including townhalls with financial institution CEOs

  • Collaborate through technical and thematic platforms such as the Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3), its sub-committees and the Value-Based Intermediation Community of Practitioners

  • Participate in national policy consultations and assessments led by regulators and government agencies on governance, human rights and sustainability

  • Include regulators in key industry events and business dialogues we host, such as with the CEO Action Network (CAN)

  • Through CIMB Islamic, contribute to national Islamic Social Finance initiatives, including BNM iTEKAD programmes

  • Strengthening cybersecurity, data privacy, anti-money laundering (AML) and fraud prevention controls

  • Upholding fair conduct and good governance

  • Enhancing risk management, business resilience and technological readiness

  • Development of the sustainable finance ecosystem

  • Management of climate, nature and biodiversity-related risks

  • Credibility of client transition strategies and climate commitments

  • Promotion of economic inclusion, particularly for SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs

  • Financial literacy and fair access to financing, especially among underserved populations

  • Alignment with sustainability-related guidelines, including Value-Based Intermediation Financing and Investment Impact Assessment Framework Sectoral Guides

  • Readiness of financial institutions and companies to meet new sustainability disclosure requirements, such as the National Sustainability Reporting Framework (NSRF)

  • Provided regular updates on cybersecurity, data privacy, AML and fraud prevention

  • Shared industry feedback on sustainability reporting frameworks and governance standards

  • Actively participated in the JC3 and its sub-committees, including the Climate Change and Principle-based Taxonomy Implementation Group, and served as Co-Chair of JC3 SC1 Transition Risk Working Group and JC3 SC2 on Governance and Disclosures

  • Engaged in regional working groups, including the Singapore Sustainable Finance Association on Transition Finance, Nature and Biodiversity and blended finance

  • Participated in the JC3-led Climate Finance Innovation Lab

  • Launched CIMB’s first Shariah research paper on carbon credits, presented at the Shariah Leadership in Sustainability Conference attended by regulators

  • Supported Islamic Social Finance initiatives through participation in the Value-Based Finance Workstream, and expanded Islamic Social Finance solutions for SMEs and MSMEs

  • Contributed to Malaysia’s National Baseline Assessment on Business and Human Rights, in collaboration with the Prime Minister’s Department and the Legal Affairs Division

  • Chaired the Taskforce responsible for developing the NSRF FI Guidance Document for financial institutions

  • Coordinated engagement sessions between CAN members and regulators to provide industry feedback on NSRF implementation

  • Supported government-led inclusion programmes, including iTEKAD and Santuni MADANI, to expand access to finance for underserved segments such as micro-entrepreneurs

  • Co-organised engagement sessions with state and federal agencies (e.g., Johor Sustainability Centre) to promote incentives and SME financing for sustainability-linked activities

  • Supported financial literacy initiatives, including Financial Industry Collective Outreach programmes, and hosted financial literacy workshops for lower-income employees of clients utilising CIMB’s payroll services

Suppliers

Behind every service we provide are the people and businesses that supply the goods, systems, and support that keep our operations running. Our technology partners, facilities and service providers influence the reliability of our services and the standards by which CIMB operates. By engaging with our supply chain, we work to set clear expectations, address shared challenges, and encourage practices that reflect our values.

  • Conduct periodic supplier performance evaluations, including assessments against sustainability criteria

  • Host virtual focus groups to promote collaboration and share sustainability best practices

  • Maintain regular engagement and communication with vendors and suppliers through procurement processes, including our Vendor Code of Conduct and the integration of sustainability criteria within our Request for Proposal process

  • Opportunities for capacity-building and support in sustainable procurement practices

  • Expectations and compliance with the Vendor Code of Conduct (VCOC), including sustainability obligations

  • Fair remuneration and payment terms

  • Seamless and efficient procurement systems

  • Cybersecurity and data privacy

  • Fostered collaboration with vendors and suppliers to explore sustainable supply chain programmes, including awareness-building on expectations and responsible practices

  • Shared updated VCOC guidelines and provided timely support to facilitate compliance with environmental, labour and ethical standards

  • Provided clear channels for reviewing payment terms and resolving payment-related issues

  • Reviewed and streamlined procurement system and processes to improve efficiency

  • Worked closely with Group Information Technology to strengthen data privacy controls and address cybersecurity risks

Communities

Communities represent the people whose lives and livelihoods are influenced by financial activity. This includes individuals living and working in and around our areas of operation, vulnerable groups such as Indigenous communities, those affected by development projects, and civil society organisations that represent social and environmental interests. By working with community partners and NGOs, we gain first-hand insight into the challenges people face and collaborate on issues such as financial inclusion, climate resilience, nature and human rights.

  • Hold one-on-one consultations and meetings with community partners and stakeholders

  • Participate in forums and dialogues on community development as well as environmental and social issues

  • Build partnerships with community-based organisations and NGOs

  • Provide donations and sponsorships for impactful community initiatives

  • Organise employee volunteerism activities

  • Financing sectors with adverse impacts on climate and nature

  • Identifying and managing human rights risks

  • Mobilising funds for conservation and environmental protection efforts

  • Promoting economic inclusion and financial literacy

  • Supporting long- term community development

  • Scaling programmes amid funding and resource constraints

  • Engaged environmental NGOs to seek independent perspectives and validate key findings for CIMB’s Nature and Biodiversity Report

  • Enhanced monitoring mechanisms to strengthen tracking, accountability and impact measurement of environmental and community development programmes

  • Engaged NGOs working on social issues to validate our assessment of salient human rights risks

  • Channelled funding towards conservation initiatives through EcoSave-i and new strategic partnerships

  • Expanded financial literacy and inclusion initiatives

  • Recorded over 200,000 employee volunteer hours in 2025

2025 Sustainability Report

2025 Sustainability Report

Dive deeper into CIMB’s latest sustainability progress, commitments and impact across economic, environmental and social priorities.

Download Report