Malaysian financial services giant CIMB is set to merge with RHB Capital Berhad and Malaysia Building Society Berhard with the proposal submitted to Bank Negara Malaysia for approval, a joint announcement from the Malaysian firms said yesterday.

The three-way merger, valued at $22.3 billion, will create the nation's largest bank, according to an October 10 report from Bloomberg. The venture has been hailed by the companies as a formation of an ASEAN financial powerhouse.

“This exercise will cement CIMB Group’s position amongst the top banks in ASEAN and bring a host of value creation opportunities for all our stakeholders,” said Tengku Dato’ Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, acting group chief executive at CIMB Group, said in a statement.

CIMB has a presence in nine ASEAN nations, including Cambodia, where at the end of 2013 it had 11 branches and held about $250 million in assets. RHB had nine branches in the Kingdom with close to $240 million in assets at the end of last year.