KUCHING: The Banker magazine, the world’s premier banking and finance publication, bestowed the top investment bank for Asia-Pacific title to CIMB Investment Bank at its annual investment banking awards recently.
It was CIMB’s second time winning the ‘Most Innovative Investment Bank of the Year from Asia-Pacific’ award, outclassing its bigger peers in the region to solidify its position as a leading investment bank franchise based in Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan).
Brian Caplen, editor of The Banker, explained that the award was given to the bank that had shown the most innovation in the past 12 months at a regional level.
“CIMB was notable for its acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland’s Asia-Pacific investment banking and cash equities business. This sets CIMB up to be one of the largest investment banks in Asia-Pacific,” he said.
At the same awards ceremony, CIMB Islamic, CIMB Group’s global Islamic banking and finance franchise, was announced as the world’s ‘Most Innovative Investment Bank for Islamic Finance’, also for the second time.
“CIMB Islamic was the undisputed winner for this award. It has made global headlines in bringing innovative sukuk to the market through acting as an adviser for the world’s first Chinese yuan sukuk issuance, as well as lead-managing the largest dual-tranche global sovereign sukuk ever issued. It has also pushed boundaries in developing a range of new Islamic treasury and structured products,” he added.
Accepting the awards in London were CIMB Investment Bank deputy chief executive officer Kong Sooi Lin and general manager of CIMB Bank’s London branch Asaraf Aboo Bakar.