Malaysia scraps plan to form mega bank

Kuala Lumpur

CIMB Group Holdings, RHB Capital and Malaysia Building Society have agreed to scrap a three-way merger that would have created Malaysia's largest banking group, citing current economic conditions.

"The decision to cease discussions was arrived at after a detailed review of potential synergies that could be realistically delivered, especially in the current economic environment," Zafrul Abdul Aziz, acting chief executive officer of CIMB Group, said in a joint e-mailed statement on Wednesday. "While we remain convinced that the combination of our three franchises follows sound strategic logic, we ultimately were not able to arrive at a value creating transaction for all stakeholders," he said.