BANGKOK: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Malaysia's second-largest lender, plans to seek banking licences in Vietnam and Myanmar as part of its drive to expand in fast-growing Southeast Asian markets.

CIMB, Southeast Asia's fifth-largest bank by assets, is also keen to open a banking business in the Philippines and is studying regulations that allow foreign banks to take full control of local lenders, CIMB Group chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak said yesterday.

He was in Bangkok to announce that CIMB-Principal Asset Management Co has signed a deal to acquire Finansa Asset Management Ltd in Thailand from Finansa Pcl for 225 million baht (RM22.5 million).

CIMB aims to open branches in all Southeast Asian countries by next year when a planned partial integration of Asean economies will be completed, he said.

CIMB, which is seeking to acquire two lenders to create Malaysia's largest bank, has been the most acquisitive of the country's banks.

Southeast Asian banks have been on a roll, benefiting from booming property markets and double-digit growth in both consumer and corporate loans in rapidly expanding economies like Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.

Myanmar may allow foreign banks to operate with a limited licence later this year.

Separately, CIMB Thai Bank said the bank aimed for loan growth of 15 per cent this year, after a four per cent rise in the first half, on expectations of a recovery in lending demand in the second half as the political situation in Thailand stabilises.

CIMB Thai now contributes about six to seven per cent to the group's profit, versus a five-year target of 10 per cent, said its chief executive Subhak Siwaraksa. Reuters