Bank Negara Malaysia has left its list of domestic systemically important banks (DSIBs) exactly as it was. Maybank, CIMB and Public Bank stay on it, and so do their extra capital charges. The 2026 assessment, published on October 16, adds nobody and drops nobody.
Malayan Banking Berhad and CIMB Group Holdings Berhad still carry a higher loss absorbency (HLA) requirement of 1.0% of risk weighted assets. Public Bank Berhad stays at 0.5%. BNM used data as at end 2025 and said both the list and the HLA levels are unchanged from the last review.
The HLA is the capital cost of the label. Under the framework BNM issued in February 2020, a designated bank has to hold extra capital so it can meet requirements that include the HLA, applied at consolidated level and held as common equity tier 1 capital above the regulatory minimums. The surcharge is 0.5% or 1.0% of risk weighted assets for the current names, depending on their bucket, with an empty top bucket at 2.0%.
The first list came out of that 2020 framework, based on 2018 data. Maybank and CIMB went into Bucket 2 and Public Bank into Bucket 1, with the HLA taking effect on January 31, 2021. BNM says the list and surcharges are unchanged, and the three names are the same ones designated in 2020.
One thing has changed. BNM says it will now announce the result of each annual assessment through a public notice, unless it says otherwise. Under the 2020 framework, the list was published with the Financial Stability Review.
Herald View
Unchanged doesn’t mean irrelevant. Public Bank keeps half a point of risk weighted assets free that Maybank and CIMB must lock away. If investors keep pricing the two bigger banks as though that capital costs nothing, their dividends will have to prove them right.
