KUALA LUMPUR: Floods in Bangkok will likely have only a small impact on the earnings of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, its chief, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, said.
The regional banking group, Malaysia's second largest, has operations in Thailand through CIMB Thai Bank.
"The Thai contribution to CIMB is quite small. Secondly, the government numbers (show) that banking sector lending that is exposed to the flood situation is actually quite small, about one per cent of total loans, and that is not too different from our estimate. But things are quite fluid, so we have to see."
Nazir spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the inaugural CIMB Asean Conference here yesterday, amid news that thousands of Bangkok residents were evacuating as a mass of floodwater advanced towards the Thai capital city.
He said the group, which had some 300 employees in Bangkok, was considering shifting its headquarters to Pattaya as the situation looked quite severe.
He said if the situation in Bangkok persisted, there would also be some delay in the implementation of its 1Platform initiative that was announced last year and on which it expected to invest RM1.1 billion over five years.
This is a regional core banking platform that would have spanned its four main markets, starting with Thailand.
"It (the delay) could be a bit disruptive, but that's more of a long-term issue," he remarked.
On another matter, Nazir said CIMB Group was making "good progress" in its talks with San Miguel Corp to take a stake in the Philippines' Bank of Commerce, an unlisted bank.
He later told Reuters in an interview that an announcement on the status of the talks would be announced in the next few weeks.
The regional banking group, Malaysia's second largest, has operations in Thailand through CIMB Thai Bank.
"The Thai contribution to CIMB is quite small. Secondly, the government numbers (show) that banking sector lending that is exposed to the flood situation is actually quite small, about one per cent of total loans, and that is not too different from our estimate. But things are quite fluid, so we have to see."
Nazir spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the inaugural CIMB Asean Conference here yesterday, amid news that thousands of Bangkok residents were evacuating as a mass of floodwater advanced towards the Thai capital city.
He said the group, which had some 300 employees in Bangkok, was considering shifting its headquarters to Pattaya as the situation looked quite severe.
He said if the situation in Bangkok persisted, there would also be some delay in the implementation of its 1Platform initiative that was announced last year and on which it expected to invest RM1.1 billion over five years.
This is a regional core banking platform that would have spanned its four main markets, starting with Thailand.
"It (the delay) could be a bit disruptive, but that's more of a long-term issue," he remarked.
On another matter, Nazir said CIMB Group was making "good progress" in its talks with San Miguel Corp to take a stake in the Philippines' Bank of Commerce, an unlisted bank.
He later told Reuters in an interview that an announcement on the status of the talks would be announced in the next few weeks.
