CIMB to set up Asean research body

CIMB Group (1023) has pledged about RM5 million a year to set up a Jakarta-based research institute that promotes Asean economic and social integration.

The body aims to provide a platform for corporates to come together on issues that affect them as they expand in the region.

"CIMB Group has aligned its future to that of Asean, so our sponsorship to this institute is entirely consistent with our corporate agenda," CIMB Group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said at a media briefing held on the sidelines of the 7th Asean Leadership Forum in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, yesterday.

"There is currently insufficient critical mass support for Asean integration. The efforts of the Asean secretariat and governments need to be supplemented by the private sector," he added.
The new CIMB Asean Research Institute, or CARI, will provide thought leadership and specific views on key issues like free trade agreements, non-trade barriers, financial market integration, as well as sectoral rules that are inhibitive to business, Nazir said. CARI will not just issue research reports, he said, but will actively study the issues to find ways to solve the problems.

The institute will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of CIMB. It will be overseen by a board of governors and a board of advisors that comprise prominent individuals from the region including Glenn Yusuf, the first chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, and Datuk Seri Panglima Andrew Sheng, a former central banker of Malaysia and Hong Kong.

John Pang, a management consultant and academic, will be appointed as chief executive officer of CARI. Pang is currently a senior visiting fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

The plan to set up CARI still needs the approval of Bank Negara Malaysia.

Malaysia's second largest bank had in recent years expanded aggressively into the region with key operations in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore besides the home market.

As the head of a regional bank, Nazir has been adamant about the lack of recognition and priviledge given by Southeast Asian banking regulators to a regional bank like itself.

Banking rules in the region were crafted to differentiate between a local and a foreign bank, but has nothing in between, he said, inspite of regional banks playing a greater role in fuelling intra-region economic activities.