CIMB's Forward30: Banking on Tokenization and AI-Linked Lending

A resilient quarter shows the ASEAN universal bank pivoting to fee income, wealth, and data center finance.

1023.KL · Earnings Call · 2026-08-28

A Hard-Won Quarter

The second quarter of 2026 capped a resilient half for CIMB Group, with net profit of MYR 1.94 billion and an annualized ROE of 11.2%. CEO Novan Amirudin “We're seeing very good momentum as we move from the first quarter to the second quarter.” — Muhammad Amirudin, CEO · 2026-08-28 The momentum is not an accident; it is the visible payoff of the Forward30 program, which the bank has been executing since last year. CIMB's strategic frame is the "four Cs" – Capital, Cash, Cross-sell and Capabilities. On the capital front, the divestment of its Thai auto business is on track, freeing up resources to pivot toward higher-growth segments. On the cash side, the bank is leveraging its dual role as a Universal Bank and owner of the national e-wallet Touch 'N Go to drive customer acquisitions and deepen relationships. This gives CIMB a distribution edge that few ASEAN peers can match.

Feeding the Growth Machines

The quarter's standout driver is the non-interest income (NOII) acceleration. Group CFO Khairul Rifaie noted: “This is the second quarter where we recorded good sequential growth on NOII.” — Khairulanwar Bin Rifaie, Group CFO · 2026-08-28 The 6% QoQ NOII growth was led by wealth management, treasury client sales, and cross-border flows, all of which are increasingly independent of the rate cycle. NOII contribution expanded by more than a percentage point year-on-year, helping to offset the 4 bps NIM compression. Central to this strategy is the data centers financing opportunity. The CEO explicitly linked asset growth to ASEAN's AI infrastructure build-out: "Quite a sizable proportion of it is coming from the AI and data center space." CIMB's wholesale banking strength and its cross-border corridor presence have made it a natural lender to the region's hyperscale projects, with committed resources to the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone and the ASEAN Financial Passport program. The bank is also making a deliberate push into wealth management, launching a new "Private Wealth" segment to capture high-growth customers between its Preferred and Private Banking tiers. An advisory-led digital tool, MyWealth, moves beyond simple product shelves by suggesting asset allocations based on risk questionnaires. In the Q&A, the CEO argued the edge is structural: “I'm a big believer in that and I'm confident, in fact that this is what differentiates us versus everyone else.” — Muhammad Amirudin, CEO · 2026-08-28

Tokenization: A First-Mover Bet

The most intriguing development came this week with CIMB's announcement that it has issued its own Islamic bond (sukuk) in tokenized format – a market first for a Malaysian bank. The issuance, part of a larger MYR 1.68 billion sukuk, saw 80% placed in tokenized form to 12 institutional investors.

We are the first Malaysian bank to do so. But we are double downing on tokenization because we do believe this is the next financial market innovation that will come through over the next coming years, and we want to make sure that we are the first to innovate and to introduce this to our customers.
Muhammad Amirudin, CEO · 2026-08-28

This move builds on a smaller pilot with Khazanah and signals CIMB's ambition to shape the next generation of capital markets. Tokenization could open a new fee stream and cement CIMB's image as an innovator, distinguishing it from banks that are waiting for the market to mature. The fact that the bank is already using its own tokenized deposit to settle the sukuk suggests a practical path from pilot to production.

Weathering Regional Stress

Not everything is smooth. Indonesia remains the weak link, with aggressive BI rate hikes and broader liquidity pressures squeezing margins. Additionally, an OJK accounting change requires banks to book provisions on foreclosed auto assets upfront – a timing shift that added MYR 60 million to group credit costs in Q2. Still, CIMB's diversified book means the overall credit cost guidance of 25–35 bps stays intact. In Malaysia, competition for deposits is fierce, and the bank is deliberately building retail time deposits to lower funding costs. The CFO expects NIMs to stabilize sequentially, though Malaysian NIM remains under modest pressure – a factor for investors to monitor. CIMB's half-year results reinforce a message of transformation rather than stagnation. The bank is simultaneously cutting costs, reallocating capital, and planting flags in areas like data-center debt and tokenized capital markets. The NOII growth is evidence that the revenue mix is shifting toward more durable, fee-based streams, and the bank expects to meet its full-year asset and loan growth targets. For a bank of CIMB's scale, the forward-looking bets on tokenization and AI-linked lending are unusual – most regional peers still rely on traditional lending income. If these initiatives scale, CIMB could emerge as a regional leader in both technology-enabled finance and the new asset classes emerging from the digital asset revolution.