Non-listed SMEs and mid-corps to benefit from cost-effective access to liquidity and share trading options on private securities exchange    
 
KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 (Bernama) -- CIMB Bank Berhad (“CIMB Bank”, “CIMB” or “the Bank”) and CapBridge Pte Ltd (“CapBridge”) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate capital raising and trading of shares for private companies through the CapBridge investment platform and the 1exchange (“1X”) private securities exchange. This MOU will see CIMB Bank and CapBridge collaborating to offer the Bank’s customers in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia access to private capital and liquidity through the holistic CapBridge private capital eco-system. 
 
The CapBridge Investment platform is a private capital raising platform for growth stage and pre-IPO companies; while 1X is a trading platform which facilitates a buyer-seller match for private securities listed on the exchange by using blockchain to register and track the shareholdings of investors who trade on the platform. The wide-ranging partnership provides a unique value proposition to CIMB’s SME and mid-corp clients looking to raise capital and have part of their shares traded, while remaining private and in full control of their businesses.  
 
Victor Lee Meng Teck, CEO of Group Commercial Banking, CIMB Group, said, “This is an exciting collaboration with CapBridge that will help both CIMB’s SME and mid-corp clients access an alternative source of capital from global investors. As the main banker for companies wishing to raise funding on CapBridge’s platforms, CIMB is even better-positioned to help its SME and mid-corp customers access the capital they need to grow their business. In line with Forward23, CIMB’s next mid-term growth plan, this collaboration with CapBridge also further strengthens our refocused SME proposition to help them grow through tech-driven end-to-end solutions, and by transforming our customer journey.”
 
Johnson Chen, Founder and CEO of CapBridge said, “With the CapBridge eco-system, private companies have a fully integrated private capital solution. They can gain access to both growth capital through primary fundraising, as well as enable partial liquidity via secondary trading of private securities on 1X subsequently. Today, we are already helping companies list on 1X and we look forward to CIMB clients joining our growing ecosystem, and working closely with CIMB Bank to bring our innovative suite of private market capital services to even more growth companies in the ASEAN region.”
 
Tapping on blockchain infrastructure for security, 1X, together with its trust partners, harnesses the immutability and connectivity of the global public Ethereum network to record share ownership. 1X investors with digital wallets can thus directly check their real-time shareholdings without going through a trust administrator. The exchange can also potentially connect to the millions of digital wallets actively seeking regulated and tradeable private equities, thus linking companies to a truly global liquidity or capital pool.  
 
For further information, please visit www.capbridge.sg for the CapBridge investment platform and www.1x.exchange for the 1exchange private securities trading platform.
 
About CIMB Group 
 
CIMB Group is one of ASEAN’s leading universal banking groups and is Malaysia’s second largest financial services provider, by assets. It offers consumer banking, commercial banking, investment banking, Islamic banking and asset management products and services. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, the Group is present in all 10 ASEAN nations (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Philippines). Beyond ASEAN, the Group has market presence in China, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, Korea, the US and UK. 
 
CIMB Group has the most extensive retail branch network in ASEAN of around 780 branches as at 31 March 2019. CIMB Group’s investment banking arm is also one of the largest Asia Pacific-based investment banks, offering amongst the most comprehensive research coverage of around 600 stocks in the region. 
 
CIMB Group operates its business through three main brand entities, CIMB Bank, CIMB Investment Bank and CIMB Islamic. CIMB Group is also the 92.5% shareholder of Bank CIMB Niaga in Indonesia, and 94.8% shareholder of CIMB Thai in Thailand. 
 
CIMB Group is listed on Bursa Malaysia via CIMB Group Holdings Berhad. It had a market capitalisation of approximately RM49.3 billion as at 31 March 2019. The Group has over 36,000 employees located in 16 countries.

Source: CIMB Group

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Name: Suria Zainal
Head
Group Corporate Communications 
CIMB Group Holdings Berhad
Tel: +603 - 2261 0638 
Email: suriawati.zainal@cimb.com

--BERNAMA