Today, CIMB Bank's retail banking business was officially inaugurated by CIMB Group in Singapore, and the ceremony was attended by the Singapore Minister for Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and about 300 guests.

The Southeast Asia's largest branch network totaling 1,150 branches across Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand is owned by CIMB Group, which is also the region's largest investment bank.

Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group, Datuk Sri Nazir Razak said that the already existing strong securities, advisory and corporate lending businesses in Singapore would be complemented by the Singapore retail banking component, along with completing the Group's customer segment coverage across its 4 key countries.

Nazir said: "We have been in Singapore since 1947 through Ban Hin Lee Bank and this presence intensified in 2005 when we acquired GK Goh Stockbrokers. Partly in response to demand from our Malaysian, Indonesian and Thai clients who frequent Singapore, we have been contemplating this push into retail banking for some time now but had to design a business model that turns our banking license's 2 branch limitation into an advantage."

Mak Lye Mun, Chief Executive, CIMB Bank Singapore, added: "We will be challenging convention and I feel our direct approach and customer focus will ensure that we attract a good base of customers. Basically, we've been listening to the Singapore retail customers and this will come out very clearly in our advertising and products in the coming months."