01/06/2026

MONDAY | JUNE 1, 2026

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BANKING & INSURANCE

CIMB’s Forward30 strategy delivers 11.3% ROE in first year

Censuria engages Affin Wealth Management to advance family office initiative PETALING JAYA: Censuria Family Office, under the leadership of capital markets investor Datuk Marco Yap, has engaged Affin Group’s wealth management and financial advisory arm to formulate its family office strategy under the Affin Diventium Private Banking segment. The engagement aligns with its preparations to register under Malaysia’s Single Family Office Incentive Scheme with the Securities Commission Malaysia. Censuria Family Office primarily invests in listed equities, pre-initial public offering opportunities, and fixed income securities. It plans to expand its portfolio through collaboration with Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd’s private equity arm to explore co investment opportunities, strategic growth initiatives, and cross-border investments within the Affin Group’s ecosystem. Yap said, “The group has earned our confidence with its comprehensive investment banking, wealth manage ment, and brokerage solutions. It is able to provide us with co-investment opportunities and connect us with both private and institutional investors across Malaysia and the region, delivering tailored and robust invest ment solutions to Censuria Family Office and also our private equity arm, Censuria Capital Sdn Bhd.” Affin Bank wealth management managing director Dr Calvin Goon said, “We are excited to work alongside Censuria Family Office, deli vering tailored advisory, investment, and wealth management solutions. Together, we aim to drive long-term portfolio growth, co-investment ini tiatives, and strategic wealth manage ment outcomes, while strengthening Malaysia’s family office ecosystem.” Family offices in Malaysia have been gaining traction in recent years, fuelled by growing interest from ultra high- net worth individuals in structured investments, succession planning, and long-term wealth preservation. The Single Family Office Incentive Scheme offers a tax framework designed to position Malaysia as a competitive wealth management hub.

PETALING JAYA: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s Forward30 strategy delivered 11.3% return on equity (ROE) in its first year, underpinned by the bank’s focused execution. “In the first year of Forward30, we not only laid strong foundations for future growth but also delivered another year of record financial performance. This builds on our consistent track record, generating total shareholder returns of close to three times over the past decade, significantly outperforming the broader market. “Our long-term value creation has been underpinned by diversified income streams, resilient margins, strong liquidity and asset quality as well as disciplined capital manage ment. “This has enabled us to deliver sustainable returns on equity of 11.3% and consistent dividend distributions, including a special RM2 billion capital return programme announced earlier this year,” group CEO Novan Amirudin said at CIMB’s 69th annual general meeting (AGM) and extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in Kuala Lumpur, which were chaired by CIMB Group chairman Datuk Syed Zaid Albar. Notwithstanding the challenging operating backdrop in 2025 marked by persistent rate cuts across key markets and heightened foreign exchange volatility, CIMB Group remained disciplined and vigilant in the first-year execution of Forward30. The strategy is anchored on four key levers – capital reallocation and optimisation, deepening of cash performance, lays strong foundations for future growth o Group’s focused execution results in record annual financial

From left: Novan and Syed Zaid Albar at CIMB Group’s 69th annual general meeting.

oversight to ensure accountability, preserve stakeholder confidence and deliver long-term sustainable value. Anchored by our diversified Asean footprint, sound balance sheet and a franchise built on trust, CIMB is well-positioned to parti cipate in the region’s next phase of development. “The board’s mandate is to steward Forward30 with focus and continuity, ensuring that the group’s strategic ambitions remain grounded in sustainable growth, resilience and disciplined capital allocation.” Islamic banking remains a key growth pillar for the group. In Malaysia, CIMB is expanding investment access to the banking sector for syariah-compliant investors by piloting Islamic capital market products in collaboration with the Securities Commission Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia. At the same time, the planned spin-off of CIMB Niaga Syariah is expected to strengthen its position as the number two syariah bank in Indonesia. Novan said, “In line with our

franchise, stronger cross-sell perfor mance and scaling up capabilities to be simpler, better and faster. This disciplined execution underpinned another year of strong financial performance and continued value creation for shareholders. For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2025, the group delivered a record net profit of RM7.9 billion, up 4.2% on a constant currency basis from the preceding year, while annualised return on average equity improved to 11.3%, up 10 basis points from 11.2% in 2024. CIMB maintained a strong capital position, with its Common Equity Tier 1 ratio at 14.3% as at December 2025. During the year, the group announced an additional RM2 billion capital return programme to shareholders by 2027 and declared a total annual dividend of 47.1 sen per share, which translates into a record total dividend payout of RM5.1 billion. Syed Zaid said, “The board remains focused on strong governance and forward-looking

purpose of advancing customers and society, our success is not only measured by financial performance, but also by the impact we create. We have pledged RM200 million to society by 2030, representing an increase of more than 30% from the previous five years. This includes initiatives such as iTEKAD which has benefitted more than 800 micro entrepreneurs and our participation in the Santuni Madani programme – supporting more than 9,000 residents across four adopted communities, and 10 schools benefitting over 2,000 students. We will continue our nation building efforts by empowering communities to participate more inclusively in the economy.” He concluded, “As we move into the next phase of Forward30, we remain relentlessly focused on execution to deliver enhanced shareholder value, supported by disciplined investments to build a stronger, more resilient CIMB, as we work towards our ambition to become the top-of-mind Asean bank by 2030.”

Handshakes, Takaful Malaysia Am team up to push data-driven compliance PETALING JAYA: Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Am Bhd and Handshakes Technology (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in a first-of-its kind deployment in Malaysia’s takaful and insurance sector, leveraging data and technology to drive continuous compliance and enhanced risk visibility across the ecosystem. As Malaysia intensifies enforce continuous, data-driven oversight. The collaboration is aligned with Bank Negara Malaysia’s policies on Anti Money Laundering, Countering Financing of Terrorism and Counter Proliferation Financing and Targeted Financial Sanctions requirements. “This partnership reflects a shared commitment to enhancing compliance capabilities through data and and co-founder Daryl Neo. Under the MoU, Takaful Malaysia Am will collaborates with Handshakes as its technology partner for Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) gover nance and risk intelligence, integrating corporate data and insights directly into onboarding, due diligence and ongoing monitoring processes. APP, to selected stakeholders within Takaful Malaysia Am’s network, including bancatakaful partners, takaful intermediaries, loss adjusters, and claims solicitors. This is designed to encourage wider adoption of corporate transparency, UBO insights and risk screening practices across the value chain. underpinning our commitment to fairness, accountability and syariah aligned practices. This partnership is about strengthening how risk is understood, assessed and managed across the business,” said Takaful Malaysia Am CEO Mohamed Sabri Ramli.

“As expectations on governance continue to evolve, takaful operators require greater clarity, consistency and speed in decision-making and execution. This collaboration enables us to move forward with greater confidence and agility, while contributing to higher standards and reinforcing trust across the industry,” he added.

By combining UBO insights with corporate relationship mapping, the collaboration strengthens visibility into complex corporate structures, which is a critical challenge in financial services. “Strong governance and trans parency are fundamental to sustaining trust in the takaful sector,

This enables clearer visibility into ownership structures, earlier identi fication of risk exposure, and more consistent, data-led decision-making across the customer lifecycle. To support broader ecosystem adoption, Handshakes will extend exclusive access to its corporate intelligence platform, the Handshakes

Banking & Finance technology. By embedding real-time intelligence directly into day-to-day decision-making, we are enabling financial institutions to better identify risk – addressing it as it emerges, not after the fact. Our collaboration with Takaful Malaysia Am marks a strong step forward in that direction,” said Handshakes CEO

ment of anti-money laundering and financial crime regulations, the partnership marks a significant step forward in how risk is identified, monitored and managed – moving beyond periodic checks and framework-led compliance towards

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