Bank Pembangunan, Danajamin receive BNM approval for merger talks

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in his Budget 2020 presentation that Bank Negara is proposing a two-phase restructuring plan for the country’s DFIs to form a new financial institution through the merger of Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd, Danajamin Nasional Bhd, SME Bank and Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd to strengthen the development finance ecosystem

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd (BPMB) and Danajamin Nasional Bhd have been given the green light from Bank Negara to commence negotiations under the first phase of the government's proposed merger of development financial institutions (DFI).

Negotiations between BPMB and Danajamin are expected to be completed within six months, BPMB said in a statement.

The merger comes as part of the government's proposal in Budget 2020 to restructure and merge BPMB, Danajamin, Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd and Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Bhd to strengthen the DFI ecosystem.

"The merger is expected to lead to greater synergies to achieve development outcomes that would benefit all stakeholders, as well as fulfill the needs of the new economy," said BPMB.

Phase one of the restructuring plan would involve the merger of BPMB with Danajamin, while the second phase will see the merger of EXIM Bank and SME Bank into the earlier merged entity.

There will be a steering committee led by the Ministry of Finance and comprising various stakeholder ministries as well as Credit Guarantee Corp, Bank Negara and the four DFIs.

A working committee was also established to support the steering comittee in driving the implementation of the merger and providing updates to the public.