Malaysian Capital Market Hits Record RM4.3 trillion in 2025

Stays Resilient Despite Heightened Volatility, Global Uncertainty

Kuala Lumpur, 22 April 2026

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today released its Annual Report 2025 (AR2025), the Audit Oversight Board Annual Report 2025 and Capital Market Stability Review 2025 (CMSR).

In 2025, the Malaysian capital market grew 3.2% to a record RM4.3 trillion from RM4.2 trillion in 2024, underpinned by higher corporate bond issuances and the increase in fund management inflows.

The AR2025 noted that the overall 2025 performance was achieved amid heightened global market volatility and headwinds. Globally, the capital market was weaker in 2025 due to global trade frictions and geopolitical tensions.

Average daily trading value in the Malaysian equity market was RM2.76 billion in 2025, down 19.7% from RM3.44 billion in 2024, due to cautious investor sentiment.

The SC Chairman Dato’ Mohammad Faiz Azmi said that the Malaysian capital market still showed its resilience despite the volatile environment.

“The 2025 results reflect the fundamental strength of the Malaysian capital market. By balancing market development while safeguarding market integrity, the SC continues to provide a stable, innovative environment for all stakeholders,” he said.

Dato’ Faiz added that the SC is cognisant of market turbulence amid the global uncertainties, geopolitics and technological disruption.

“However, with the forward-looking Capital Market Masterplan 2026-2030 in place, the SC is optimistic that the Malaysian capital market will stay on course in delivering reforms, boosting market competitiveness and inclusiveness, strengthening governance frameworks and enhancing investor protection,” he said.

Key Highlights from the SC Annual Report 2025:

The Islamic Capital Market (ICM) remained strong, growing by 4.31% to reach RM2.7 trillion in 2025.
The fund management industry’s assets under management rose by 6.9% to a record high of RM1.14 trillion, on the back of better returns for fixed-income securities and higher valuations.
Total funds raised via the capital market jumped 35.4% to RM187.7 billion.
A record 60 IPOs were listed in 2025, surpassing the 55 recorded in the previous year.
Total committed funds in the venture capital and private equity industry increased by 21.66% to RM30.05 billion.
Alternative financing avenues continued to facilitate financing to MSMEs and MTCs, with RM5.7 billion raised in 2025.

In 2025, Malaysia’s regional value proposition was strengthened via:

Malaysia’s recognition by IFRS Foundation as one of the first ASEAN jurisdictions to adopt the ISSB Standards with limited transition pursuant to the National Sustainability Reporting Framework (NSRF).
The introduction of the Single-Family Office (SFO) incentive framework has generated further interest among regional family offices. To date, nine conditional approvals were granted, representing nearly RM670 million in indicative AUM.

The SC also reinforced its commitment to investor protection and credible deterrence.

Malaysia attained "Regular Follow-up" status under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) assessment, the highest rating possible.
The SC initiated a total of 96 criminal charges against 16 individuals in 2025 for various contraventions of securities laws and further obtained nine convictions with custodial sentences ranging up to three years and criminal fines amounting to RM13.1 million imposed by the courts. The SC also obtained a total of RM11.14 million from disgorgement and civil penalties through its civil enforcement efforts.
Upholding its mandate for investor protection, the SC successfully restituted RM1.98 million to 239 investors in 2025, with another RM8.63 million earmarked for a further 993 affected individuals.
Other than criminal and civil actions, the SC continued to take timely administrative enforcement actions, with 99 administrative sanctions imposed, consisting of monetary penalties amounting to RM8.28 million.

Capital Market Stability Review 2025

The CMSR, which outlines comprehensive risk assessments on various components of the Malaysian capital market, noted that while the domestic market continued to be affected by the confluence of risk factors, it was able to operate in a fair and orderly manner with no systemic stability concerns observed.

Key observations from the report include:

In 2025, domestic capital market conditions remained orderly, with intermediaries well-capitalised, and no systemic risks observed.
Equity and derivatives markets functioned in an orderly manner, with risk management mechanisms in place, ensuring systemic stability. No corporate bond defaults were recorded, and public-listed companies (PLC)’s steady earnings underscored their ability to withstand economic headwinds.
Intermediaries’ capital adequacy ratios comfortably exceeded regulatory requirements. Stress testing affirmed that investment funds were able to weather redemption shocks without relying on liquidity buffers. Spillover risks remained limited even under the extreme scenario, which estimates a relatively moderate decline in the benchmark index.

Audit Oversight Board Annual Report 2025

There are a total 41 audit firms and 397 individual auditors currently registered and recognised by the Audit Oversight Board (AOB).

In 2025, the AOB inspected a total of 41 audit engagements conducted by 40 individual auditors from 14 audit firms¹.

Highlights of the AOB’s 2025 Annual Report include:

Outreach by the AOB covered 724 Audit Committees (ACs) through its ‘Conversation with Audit Committees’ and other collaborations, emphasising the vital role of strong, independent, and knowledgeable ACs in enhancing audit quality.
The AOB played a key role in advancing global audit and ethics discussions by facilitating the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s (IAASB) roundtables in the Asia Pacific Region on firm culture and governance and technology quality management respectively. This has enabled regional perspectives and feedback especially those from Malaysia being provided to the global standard setters.
The AOB, in collaboration with Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA), continues to strengthen capacity-building for registered auditors, demonstrating its commitment to equipping auditors with the necessary knowledge and skills to uphold high professional standards in financial reporting.
The AOB took enforcement action against two audit firms and six individual auditors for breaching auditing standards. The actions included prohibitions and monetary penalties totalling RM423,750. In addition, the AOB for the first time suspended an audit firm and two of its partners for serious audit quality issues and their failure to demonstrate improvements in audit quality from previous inspection findings.

SC’s Strategic Priorities in 2026

Key deliverables in 2026 will be driven by the SC’s Capital Market Masterplan 2026-2030 (CMP) under the pillars of vibrancy, inclusivity, sustainability and regional opportunities.

Thus far, the SC has launched:

MY Value Up Programme to elevate Malaysian PLCs’ long term value creation to transform these PLCs into globally attractive investment propositions.
New framework for private debt notes to broaden debt-based capital market financing options for MSMEs.
Extended ETF framework to allow the offering of Digital Asset ETFs and regulatory clarity to facilitate broking services for Digital Assets.

Moving forward, new SC initiatives will include the following:

Revised Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance 2026
Enhanced value proposition of MAIN Market and ACE Market
Enhanced LEAP Market framework
Enhanced Digital Asset Exchanges (DAX) framework
Facilitate greater tokenisation of securities

To view and download these reports, please visit:

SC Annual Report 2025 – https://www.sc.com.my/annual-report-2025
AOB Annual Report 2025 – https://www.sc.com.my/annual-report-2025/audit-oversight
Capital Market Stability Review 2025 – https://www.sc.com.my/resources/cmsr

The AOB conducts annual inspections on all firms that have more than 50 PIE audit clients and with a total market capitalisation above RM15 billion. These major audit firms collectively audit 95.0% of the total market capitalisation of public-listed companies in Malaysia.

Securities Commission Malaysia