CIMB Group Holdings Berhad (CIMB Group), RHB Capital Berhad (RHB Capital), and Malaysia Building Society Berhad (MBSB) have announced a three-way merger to create a major Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) financial powerhouse and Islamic mega-bank.
A spokesperson at RHB Capital told SRP that there would be no changes to the structured product business of all parties involved in the merger, although a potential expansion and consolidation of structured products capabilities will be determined at a later stage.
CIMB Group and RHB Capital are the second and fourth-largest banks in Malaysia, and it is reported that the resulting entity after the integration of the three institutions would top the current leader Maybank, and become the fourth-biggest bank in South East Asia.
CIMB Group is one of the most active distributors of structured products in the retail space, and the products issued include structured deposits mainly linked to FX rates or single shares.
Regarding the merger, there will be a share swap between CIMB Group and RHB Capital, with 70% of the merged CIMB-RHB Group owned by CIMB Group shareholders and the remaining 30% by RHB Capital shareholders. In tandem, the Islamic banking unit of CIMB and RHB would acquire MBSB to form an Islamic mega-bank.
SRP data shows that CIMB Group has marketed over 320 products in Malaysia since 2005, of which 34 are still live structures while RHB Capital has only been active in the domestic structured products since 2011 and has only issued 43 structures via its distribution subsidiaries RHB Bank, RHB Investment Management, and RHB Unit Trust Management.
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