CIMB launches brokerage services in South Korea

Will initially cover 28 Korean stocks.

In a release, CIMB Group announced that it has begun its brokerage and corporate advisory businesses in Seoul, South Korea, after successfully obtaining an equities brokerage license from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Korea.

CIMB Securities Limited, Korea Branch (CIMB Korea) is the first ASEAN financial institution to be granted its equities brokerage license through an application process.

"We are delighted to have gotten off the ground in Korea. This is a continued expansion of our North Asia investment banking platform and brings us closer to comprehensively covering all key Asia Pacific ex-Japan markets. We can now offer our global clients access to the Korean equity market and catalyse more business and investment flows between Korea and ASEAN,” said Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak, Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group.

John Choi, the Branch Manager and the Head of Equities, and Sean Cho, the Head of Investment Banking will lead the 39-strong team in Korea, providing stock brokerage, research and corporate advisory services to both domestic as well as our international clients.

CIMB Korea currently covers 28 Korean stocks which represent 35% of KOSPI market cap, spanning various sectors such as banking and finance, telecommunications, ship building, transportation, large cap technology, Internet and gaming. By early 3Q 2013,

CIMB Korea expects to cover over 80 Korean stocks which would represent more than 70% of the KOSPI market cap.

Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, the Group is now present in eight out of 10 ASEAN nations (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Vietnam and Myanmar). Beyond ASEAN, the Group has market presence in China, Hong Kong, Bahrain, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, the US and UK.

CIMB Group has the largest retail branch network in ASEAN of more than 1,000 branches as at 31 December 2012. CIMB Group’s investment banking arm is also emerging as the largest Asia Pacific-based investment bank following its recently announced purchase of RBS’ Asia Pacific investment banking and cash equities operations.

CIMB Group operates its business through three main brand entities, CIMB Bank, CIMB Investment Bank and CIMB Islamic. CIMB Group is also the 97.9% shareholder of Bank CIMB Niaga in Indonesia, and 93.7% shareholder of CIMB Thai in Thailand.

CIMB Group is listed on Bursa Malaysia via CIMB Group Holdings Berhad. It had a market capitalisation of approximately RM56.71 billion as at 31 December 2012. The Group has about 42,000 employees located in 17 countries.