Things are stirring in Malaysia’s banking industry. So far in June, two of the biggest banks in the country have set about merger talks, and another has agreed to sell half of its international brokerage business to a mainland Chinese securities house.
On June 1, RHB Bank and AMMB Holdings, better known as AmBank, announced they were discussing a merger and had received approval from the central bank to move forward. They have signed an exclusivity agreement, which will expire on August 30, and are moving towards an all-share merger.
It’s an easy deal to understand, all about scale. Public Bank, CIMB and Maybank are all stronger; combining two of the banks on the rung below makes for a strong top-four bank.
|
Dato’ Khairussaleh |
RHB group managing director Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli says it will “create a stronger fourth largest banking group, creating scale and market leadership across key business segments”, while Dato’ Sulaiman Mohd Tahir, group CEO of AmBank, speaks of “our goal of becoming a formidable banking group”.
Analyst opinion suggests the deal, which would create an institution with total consolidated assets of RM368 billion ($86 billion) based on March 2017 financials, is sensible but a better outcome for AmBank than RHB.
