CIMB upbeat on another record year

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, which has achieved a year of record revenue and net profit last year, is bullish on an even better year ahead in 2017, driven by improving regional economy, declining provisions with improved asset quality, as well as continued cost discipline.
"The economic prospects for Malaysia and the rest of the region is actually improving. In the last three months we are seeing pick up in terms of business confidence," the group's chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said at a press conference after its AGM here today.
"In terms of loan growth, we are quite positive that this year's momentum will be sustainable. Therefore we hope to record another record year this year and to see growth in our top line," he added.
Meanwhile, the group's chief executive Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said the group's outlook for 2017 should be better than last year, given the measures that the group has taken since last year, including to improve its loan book in Indonesia and Thailand.
"We recorded a record revenue last year where we passed the RM16 billion mark. However it didn't really translated into profit given the challenges (we had) in terms of asset quality in both Indonesia as well as Thailand," Zafrul said.