CIMB SUNLIFE

CIMB Bank Bhd expects to maintain its loans growth for the consumer banking side at seven per cent this year.

Its chief executive officer (CEO) of Group Consumer Banking, Samir Gupta, said the bank is also looking at similar growth for the coming year.

"It is a challenging time given the economy, but we still see pockets of growth," he said.

"Even now, we have seen a growth of seven per cent for loans for the consumer side, and we are optimistic to maintain this growth for the rest of this year as well as the next," he said.

Samir said that the group's consumer banking has not been affected by the fluctuations of the ringgit, as all this has been factored in beforehand.

"We have seen the ringgit fluctuating even from 2014, so all this has been factored in. Eventually, the market will stabilise and we are making prudent steps right now to withstand ongoing headwinds," he added.

Samir had earlier launched CIMB Bank and Sun Life Malaysia's latest insurance savings plan with wealth protection, the Sun Wealth, alongside Sun Life's deputy CEO, Raymond Leo.

"This is the 43rd collaboration between CIMB and Sun Life, and as of the soft launch four months ago, we have already achieved some RM20 million in premiums through some 700 clients," said Leo.

"We are targeting to acquire some RM200 million in premiums through this new product by year end 2017," he added.

Sun Life Malaysia is a joint venture by Sun Life Financial Inc and Avicennia Capital Sdn Bhd, a fully-owned Khazanah Nasional Bhd investment holding company specialising in insurance and Takaful.

CIMB Group, meanwhile, holds a two per cent stake in Sun Life Malaysia. Through this collaboration, CIMB has some 800 policy holders, while Sun Life Malaysia has 1.5 million policy holders as of October 2016.