Malaysia’s Malaysia Building Society is becoming a full-fledged bank. It is proposing to acquire Asian Financial Bank (AFB) in a deal that would result in the merged entity becoming Malaysia’s second largest Islamic bank by assets. Post-merger, it will have an asset base of $10.5 billion and operate 46 branches. Malaysia Building society will buy the stake held by foreign shareholders – Qatar Islamic Bank, Financial Assets Bahrain, RUSD Investment Bank and Tad Hamon International Islamic Bank – for $153 million . The merger is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2018. Malaysia Building Society has been trying hard to get a banking license that would give it access to cheaper sources of funding.
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