RHB, AmBank call off merger plans

The banks were not able to reach an agreement on mutually acceptable terms for the merger.

RHB Bank Berhad and AMMB Holdings Berhad announced in a release that both parties have mutually agreed to end discussions on the proposed merger of the two banking groups.

After much discussion and deliberation, RHB Bank and AmBank Group were not able to reach an agreement on mutually acceptable terms and conditions for the proposed merger.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, mergers are proving quite difficult, from the looks of it, with this being the second time in recent years that a proposed merger has been called off; the previous one being the proposed CIMB-RHB-MBSB merger back in 2014.

"We would have been neutral to slightly positive on the RHB-AMMB merger but now that it has been called off, it is back to square one and the focus will be on the operational and financial performance of both banks as they announce their results over the next couple of days," said Maybank Kim Eng analyst Desmond Ch'ng.

With the cessation of the merger discussions, the Exclusivity Period pursuant to the Exclusivity Agreement entered into between both parties on 1 June 2017 will automatically lapse immediately.