About

Banking and finance company CIMB has two branches in Hong Kong – the CIMB Bank Berhad Hong Kong Branch, which hongoffers full-service banking products for personal and commercial customers, as well as CGS-CIMB Securities, which is the bank’s investment arm. In the last year the biggest task for the legal team was the completion – which is still in final development – of the share purchase agreement between CIMB and China Galaxy International Financial Holdings Limited (CGS) in which CIMB Securities and subsidiaries will rebrand as CGS-CIMB Securities. This involved a huge effort from the internal legal team including management of the regulatory approvals for the deal, as well as all of the shareholding agreements, contracts, regulations, listing issues and all other legal business involved. This is a major expansion for the firm as a whole and an important part of its strategy in Hong Kong, with the legal team at the heart of it. Nicholas Chua has served as head of legal North Asia since 2012 and has led a legal team responsible for all legal matters across the North Asia regions which includes Hong Kong and PRC and is based in Hong Kong. With the completion of the share purchase agreement between CIMB Group and China Galaxy International Financial Holdings, CIMB Securities International and its subsidiaries will be rebranded as CGS-CIMB Securities once regulatory approvals are obtained.