CIMB deploys new core banking system in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 20, 2014): CIMB Group Holdings Bhd has installed a new core banking system in Malaysia to upgrade capacity and service levels as well as homogenise its operating systems across the region.
The project, dubbed "1Platform", which involved data migration of over eight million customers, was aimed at installing a single regional IT and operations framework for all CIMB entities.
In a press statement yesterday, CIMB group CEO Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said Malaysia was always the biggest and most complicated leg of the whole project, although the roll-outs in Singapore and Thailand were completed in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Just over three years ago, CIMB Group announced its plan to implement a RM1.1 billion new core banking system project for its banks in the region.
"We decided to undertake a region-wide new system project to enjoy economies of scale of procurement, but more importantly to realise cost and other operating efficiencies of having a single system and similar operating processes across all countries," Nazir said.
The Malaysia implementation has been completed according to timeline and will cost less than its original RM630 million budget, he added.
According to Nazir, the new operating system consolidates multiple systems into one which will require much less "down-times" and operates at quicker speeds.
Malaysian customers have been provided new account numbers, even though original numbers remain valid, the new number will be needed for cross border recognition in the future.