Acquired RHB Berhad

During the course of 1999, 2000, and 2001, in line with Bank Negara’s policy of consolidating Malaysia’s banking industry, CMS subsidiary, Utama Banking Group (UBG) took part in merger proposal negotiations. The first prospective partner was PerwiraAffin Bank Bhd, but this did not materialise. The second was Arab Malaysian Bank Berhad (AMBB), with whom UBG went to the extent of signing a sales and purchase agreement, but that also didn’t cross the line after AMBB sought to make changes to the agreement. Next, it talked to EON Bank but nothing came to fruition. UBG then embarked on a fourth set of merger talks, this time with Rashid Hussain Bhd (RHB), Malaysia’s third largest banking group. UBG set out to merge with RHB, and announced the successful completion of merger talks on 20 March 2002. On 1 May 2003, RHB Bank Bhd officially merged with Bank Utama and formed the RHB Group.