KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18): CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (KL:CIMB) will engage Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to seek admission into the Digital Asset Innovation Hub as it plans to further develop tokenised financial services.
The services span tokenised assets, tokenised settlement and next-generation payment rails, the group said in a statement.
As a key near-term milestone, CIMB has committed to Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s and the Securities Commission Malaysia’s (SC's) tokenised sukuk issuance pilot project, supporting the programme 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.
The various initiatives will be rolled out in phases through the SC's industry pilot programme on securities tokenisation.
CIMB group chief executive officer Novan Amirudin said, “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 tokenisation capabilities to address real opportunities and democratise market access across the banking and financial ecosystem.”
CIMB in Malaysia has issued approximately RM40 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 tokenised bond and sukuk formats.
The group’s development of tokenised 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 modernised digital financial market infrastructure.
In tandem, CIMB is also building the capabilities to support tokenised deposits, regulated bank deposits represented in token form, as a settlement instrument for tokenised securities.
This strengthens the operating foundations needed to scale tokenised issuances and deliver efficient, trusted settlement. By reducing manual processing and reconciliation across issuance and settlement, the programme improves transparency, operational efficiency, scalability and fractionality, the statement read.
“Well-designed asset tokenisation 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," said Novan.
"Through close collaboration with partners such as Khazanah Nasional, we aim to scale innovation responsibly and deliver tangible value to the market,” he added.