CIMB Restructuring Sees Lay-Offs in Singapore

The Malaysian lender is revising its strategy to emphasise sustainable growth, in line with the group’s vision to be a «leading focused Asean bank.»

CIMB Singapore is laying off staff and will close its Orchard Road branch as part of a restructuring exercise, which will see it optimise its functional set-up and leverage its group strengths through regionalization.

These will make us more resilient, more productive and better positioned for growth going forward,» CIMB Singapore chief executive Victor Lee said in an internal memo.

CIMB Singapore will be positioned as an Asean banking hub for the group, with a focus on wealth management, SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) banking, regional corporates and treasury and markets. According to the report, the bank had 1,200 staff in Singapore. Only its Raffles Place branch will remain following the exercise.

Singapore is a core and important market to the CIMB Group, and we will continue to invest in our key growth areas, CIMB Singapore said in a statement.

The bank let go of three of its business heads in Singapore in November 2020, following a review of its operations that cited the poor performance brought about by the pandemic.