KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — CIMB Bank Bhd (CIMB) was named as "Malaysia’s Best Digital Bank 2018” and the "Best Retail Bank in Malaysia” for the third consecutive year at the recent Asian Banker’s International Excellence in Retail Financial Services 2019 Awards.

During the same ceremony, CIMB Group’s consumer banking chief executive officer (CEO) Samir Gupta was also crowned "Retail Banker of the Year in Asia Pacific 2019”, in recognition of his achievements as a best-in-class leader in the region’s retail banking industry.

CIMB, Asean’s fifth largest banking group by assets, said it is now ranked as one of the top 10 banks in Asia Pacific in the Asian Banker’s league table, from 17th place previously.

The bank also won the title "Asia’s Leader in Loans” at the International Data Corporation (IDC) Financial Insights Innovation Awards 2019, for its consumer banking’s innovative CIMB 1-Minute Financing InstaApproval, which was recognised for its responsiveness to market needs, effectiveness of deployment, market response and long-term business viability.

CIMB Group CEO Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said these awards proved how far the group had pushed its own boundaries to deliver great digital banking products seamlessly to its retail customers through smart data analytics and artificial intelligence.

"Our thriving consumer banking franchise in Asean today is the result of our strong initiative to develop CIMB as a universal bank.

"These awards will spur us onwards to deepen our customer-centricity, which is one of the five identified pillars in CIMB’s next mid-term growth plan, Forward23,” he added. — Bernama