CIMB Prime Plan to woo 100,000 customers

CIMB Bank Bhd (1023)expects to secure 100,000 customers by the end of next year for its newly-launched CIMB Prime Plan, its head of retail banking Peter England said.

The Prime Plan is a comprehensive plan that combines a range of products, including savings account, which the bank is targeting at "lower mass affluent" customers.

"It caters to a segment of customers who are at the stage of accumulating wealth. This is a largely unserved market and very few banks have offerings for this segment," England said at the launch in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Some 8 per cent of the bank's more than 5.2 million retail customers are from the lower mass affluent segment.
They are generally young professionals, managers and working graduates with household monthly incomes of between RM7,000 and RM8,000.

"We're targeting 15,000 Prime Plan customers by year-end, which is a conservative estimate, but next year our target is 100,000 new customers," England said.

A Prime Plan customer must have a Prime Account, which is an interest-bearing account, and a CIMB Gold credit card.

Products offered under the plan include the Prime Savings Account whereby customers can earn up to an additional interest rate of 1 per cent a year for a minumum deposit of RM200 a month.

Also available are a standby overdraft facility and a home financing option that allows customers to re-price their housing loan every five years and enjoy preferential rates.