CIMB Group Holdings Bhd held its 65th Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) with shareholders today virtually, where all 9 ordinary resolutions tabled at the AGM were successfully passed, and the audited financial statements for the financial year ended 31 December 2021 (“FY21”) was duly received.
The meeting was chaired by Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad, Chairman of CIMB Group, with the Board of Directors and Dato’ Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Group CEO of CIMB Group in attendance.
In a statement, it said that CIMB Group saw a positive recovery in FY21, with strong underlying performance recovery across all business segments and geographies. The improved year-on-year (“YoY”) performance was driven by solid growth in operating income, discipline in containing cost escalation and lower provisions as per target.
It said that the Group met or exceeded all FY21 financial profitability targets, including annualised return on average equity (“ROE”), cost-to-income ratio (“CIR”), and credit cost/provisions. These included achieving a record low CIR of 48.6% in FY21.
In addition, CIMB Group remained well-capitalised as it achieved its highest ever common equity tier 1 (“CET1”) ratio of 14.5% as at Dec-21, from 13.9% as at Sep-21, and 13.3% as at Dec-20, reflecting the Group’s capital strength and resilience.
The Group declared a total annual dividend of 22.99 sen per share or RM2.33 billion for FY21, translating to a payout ratio of 50.1% based on core net profit, in line with its dividend policy.
Speaking at the AGM, Datuk Nasir said, “On behalf of the Board, I would like to express my utmost appreciation to all our stakeholders for their continued trust and association with us over another uncertain year.
The past two years have demonstrated that financial performance is vulnerable to external forces, acting as a litmus test for financial institutions’ ability to respond to stakeholders when they are at their most vulnerable. In 2021, we managed our stakeholder relationships with renewed care and purpose towards advancing customers and society.
Our priority commitment to stakeholders has been towards rebuilding their lives and livelihoods by doing what we do best: being here for them, understanding their diverse needs, making sure they have seamless access to finance and financing solutions, and keeping them resilient on their road to recovery.”
“For CIMB, resilient leadership and commitment to sustainability have been key to our efforts to recover on our path to achieving future growth. To reaffirm this belief, the Group announced our enhanced sustainability commitments in 2021.
These include among others our commitment to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions by 2050, including scope 3 and financed emissions, as well as our target to mobilise RM30 billion in sustainable finance under our Green,
