CIMB's Thai auto sale frees $331.21m and improves profitability

CIMB Thai has been a drag to its parent company.

CIMB’s sale of its Thai auto financing portfolio should reduce earnings drag and keep dividend payouts higher, said S&P Global Ratings.

On 5 May 2026, CIMB Group announced that it sold its Thai bank’s automotive financing portfolio to Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) for an undisclosed amount. The sale is part of CIMB’s Forward30 strategic plan to exit non-core businesses whilst reallocating capital.

The Thai business transformation could result in a $331.21m (MYR1.3b) upstreaming in the group, S&P said.

CIMB Thai plans to use capital released from divestment to retire expensive funding in Thailand, channel funds to wholesale business and upstream dividends to the group, the ratings agency noted.

“We expect CIMB group's profitability to improve over the next two to three years,” the ratings agency said in a 6 May report. “Other initiatives, like enhancing wealth management offerings and cost control by optimizing branches and workforce, should also improve CIMB Thai's profitability.”

CIMB Group’s return on equity (ROE) could improve by 20 to 40 basis points in 2027 from the sale, enhanced wealth management, and cost control via branch and workforce optimisation, S&P said.

Currently, CIMB Thai is a drag on the group's profitability with ROE of 4.5% compared with the group's 11.3%, it noted.

“We expect the CIMB group's dividend payouts to stay higher than the historical average over the next two to three years,” S&P said.

CIMB Bank declared a dividend payout of 83% from 2025 profits, compared to 58% in 2024.

“We expect CIMB Bank's risk-adjusted capital ratio to stay comfortably above 7%, despite higher dividend payouts, given the bank's good profitability and calibrated growth,” it said.