CIMB offers voluntary exit scheme to employees

[KUALA LUMPUR] CIMB Group Holdings, Malaysia's second-largest lender by assets, said on Friday it had offered a voluntary option of leaving to its employees in Malaysia and Indonesia, in a bid to improve its operating cost structure and raise efficiency.

The Mutual Separation Scheme (MSS) would be fully voluntary, CIMB said in a statement.

CIMB has a total of 40,000 employees company-wide, with the bulk of that in the two South-east Asian nations. It did not say how many employees it expects to take up the offer.

The lender reported a 76 per cent drop in its fourth quarter net profit earlier this year, dragged by slower revenue and a sharp increase in provisions.

It has already cut 150 jobs company-wide and said in March that it planned to optimise costs further.

REUTERS