Malaysia-based lender CIMB Group Holdings Berhad has announced its commitment to develop tokenized financial services spanning tokenized assets, tokenized settlement and next-generation payment rails, supporting Malaysia’s national agenda to broaden adoption of tokenization across the financial ecosystem.
The bank said in a statement on last Thursday that various initiatives will be rolled out in phases through Securities Commission Malaysia’s (SC) industry pilot program on securities tokenization.
CIMB will also engage Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to seek admission into the Digital Asset Innovation Hub.
“CIMB is pleased to play a leading role in advancing Malaysia’s evolution towards a modern, resilient financial market infrastructure,
“In line with our purpose of advancing customers and society and our Forward30 strategic plan, we are strengthening our digital and tokenization capabilities to address real opportunities and democratize market access across the banking and financial ecosystem,” said Novan Amirudin, Group Chief Executive Officer of CIMB Group.
As a key near-term milestone, CIMB said the firm has committed to Khazanah Nasional Berhad’s and SC’s tokenized sukuk issuance pilot project, supporting the program across multiple workstreams covering structuring, execution through to custody arrangements and full lifecycle servicing.
The pilot workstreams are expected to progress through 2026 with phased capability build-out aligned to regulatory and operational readiness.
CIMB in Malaysia has issued approximately MYR 40 billion ($9.84 billion) of conventional bonds and Islamic Sukuk over the past three years alone.
As the capabilities around digital assets mature, CIMB intends to convert pilot learnings by progressively issuing a part of future funding requirements in tokenized bond and sukuk formats.
The group’s development of tokenized assets will focus on raising efficiency and connectivity across payments and capital markets, while advancing the use of digital asset-based instruments integral to a modernized digital financial market infrastructure.
In tandem, CIMB is also building the capabilities to support tokenized deposits, regulated bank deposits represented in token form, as a settlement instrument for tokenized securities.
This strengthens the operating foundations needed to scale tokenized issuances and deliver efficient, trusted settlement.
By reducing manual processing and reconciliation across issuance and settlement, the program improves transparency, operational efficiency, scalability and fractionality
“Well-designed asset tokenization offers several potential advantages to fundamentally transform the industry especially in terms of accessibility, efficiency and transparency particularly across payments and wholesale banking,
“We will begin with practical, use-case-driven applications, implemented within the regulatory frameworks and underpinned by strong governance and controls. Through close collaboration with partners such as Khazanah Nasional Berhad, we aim to scale innovation responsibly and deliver tangible value to the market,” added Novan.
CIMB also said it is working closely with BNM and SC to ensure the program aligns with prevailing prudential and regulatory expectations.
Robust risk management, controls, and governance are embedded from the outset, anchored on a compliance-by-design approach.
To this end, the group said it will ensure that any product roll-out will be subject to applicable legal and regulatory requirements, internal governance approvals, and technology readiness.
MIDA and CIMB collaborate to drive sustainable growth and Malaysia’s next investment wave