^{Caption: Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz, Group CEO, CIMB Group (centre); Effendy Shahul Hamid, CEO, Group Ventures & Partnerships, CIMB Group (second from right); Anthony Thomas, President and CEO of GCash, Philippines (second from left); Vijay Manoharan, CEO, CIMB Bank Philippines (far left); and Kim Aimei Seng, Head of Financial Services, GCash (far right) at the event announcing that CIMB Philippines has garnered 500,000 customers, approximately six months after opening its doors for business in the Philippines, making it one of the fastest growing banks in ASEAN.}



Expands strategic partnership with GCash


MANILA, Aug 14 (Bernama) -- CIMB Bank Philippines (“CIMB Bank PH”) yesterday announced that it has garnered 500,000 customers, approximately six months after opening its doors for business in the Philippines. The milestone was reached anchored on a strong proposition of co-creation and partnership between CIMB Bank and GCash, the No. 1 e-payments platform in the Philippines. 
 
The all-digital, mobile-first CIMB Bank PH was launched in early 2019 with a goal of bringing a unique and differentiated banking proposition to Filipinos. Anchored on a DNA of strong strategic partnerships and solving customer pain points digitally, CIMB Bank PH had forged a partnership with GCash, to allow GCash’s customers direct, paperless and seamless access to savings account services, a product termed GSave. GCash is an e-payments platform owned by Mynt, the revolutionary FinTech startup of Globe Telecom, Ayala Corporation, and Ant Financial, an affiliate of Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group. This partnership is in line with CIMB’s ‘Invest and Incubate’ pillar under Forward23, the Group’s current mid-term growth plan.
 
Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz, Group CEO, CIMB Group who was in Manila to celebrate this milestone said, “CIMB Bank PH is surely one of the fastest growing banks in ASEAN, a wonderful achievement, and a strong testament of what can be achieved in the regime of digital-only banks. We are motivated by this and will continue to innovate for our customers. Well done to the teams.”
 
In line with this, CIMB Bank PH and GCash also announced that the GSave bank account will be exclusively offered only on the GCash platform. The companies also said they will be working together to make added suites of financial services products available to GCash customers in the future. These services will be announced in due course.  

Zafrul added, “The partnership with GCash was central to us achieving this milestone. It is a live case study of a bank-tech partnership, a combination of banking expertise and technology platform plays, and the opportunities it allows both parties to access. I look forward to having CIMB Philippines develop more propositions with GCash as we further establish ourselves in the Philippines.”
 
Anthony Thomas, President and Chief Executive Officer of GCash affirmed its shared mission with CIMB Bank to increase accessibility of financial products and services for all Filipinos. “The acquisition of 500,000 users is a clear testament that the partnership between GCash and CIMB Bank through GSave is a success. We welcome this achievement and the deepening of our collaboration with CIMB Bank, and assure our users that we will continue to provide more innovative services to address the banking and financial needs of Filipinos who aspire for financially better lives for their families.”
 
The 500,000 GSave users are now enjoying the benefits of CIMB’s savings account, which is available as the Save Money feature on the GCash app. GSave offers an interest rate of three percent per annum, which is more than ten times higher than rates offered by most Philippine banks. 
 
Additionally, GSave does not require an initial deposit or a minimum balance; nor does it impose service charges for transactions, greatly reducing the barriers for ordinary Filipinos to open and maintain a savings account.
 
To celebrate this milestone in both companies’ journey, and to truly help people get started with their savings, CIMB Bank PH rewarded Mr. Seigfred Barcelona, as its lucky 500,000th customer today, with P500,000, to be credited directly into his GSave account.

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 740 branches as at 30 June 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 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 RM52.3 billion as at 30 June 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