Malaysia's CIMB Bank has received a licence to operate an 100 per cent owned subsidiary in Cambodia, following an in-principle approval granted to the bank six months ago, which allows it to provide banking products and services to the country's 14.5 million population.

"We find ourselves at the beginning of an enduring two-way relationship. In establishing ourselves in Cambodia, we also bring with us our regional network of clients... Cambodia is poised to become a key regional market for us in the near future," Dato' Sri Nazir Razak, group chief executive of CIMB Group, said at the launch ceremony.

Nazak added that the bank will be marketed as a local bank with regional resources and not as a foreign bank. With the new Cambodia branch, CIMB brings it Asian network to 8 out of 10 ASEAN nations with access to 89 per cent of the region's GDP and 82 per cent of its population.

CIMB Group offers consumer banking, investment banking, Islamic banking, asset management, and insurance products and services. It has a market capitalisation of around $20.1 billion as of 1 November 2010.