Keynote Address at the Family Office Summit Malaysia ‘Malaysia: An Emerging Hub for Private Capital Executive’
Speaker: Shahrul Amry Abd Malek, Executive Director, Securities Commission Malaysia
Location: The Drawing Room, Yap Ah Shak House, Kuala Lumpur Delivered: 2 November 2026
Shafiqe Badril, Chairman, Family Office Association Malaysia, Distinguished speakers and guests, Ladies and gentlemen.
Assalamualaikum and good afternoon.
Opening
Thank you, Shafiqe, and the Family Office Association Malaysia for bringing us together. A warm welcome, too, to our guests who have travelled from abroad to be with us in Kuala Lumpur.
The theme of this summit, Resilient Capital: Thriving in a Turbulent World, could not be more timely. Over the past two years, families have had to navigate trade fragmentation, shifting interest rates, conflict and a reordering of global supply chains.
The question is no longer only how to grow wealth, but where to anchor it, how to diversify it and how to pass it on intact. This afternoon I would like to make the case for why Malaysia belongs in that conversation.
A capital market built for long-term capital
Resilient capital needs a resilient market. In a period of considerable volatility, the Malaysian capital market’s size grew to RM4.3 trillion last year and has further increased to RM4.5 trillion currently. We remain the world's largest sukuk market. Under our Capital Market Masterplan 2026–2030, our ambition is to make Malaysia a regional hub where companies raise capital and investors choose to base themselves.
Why Malaysia is a hub for private capital
Asia is in the midst of the largest intergenerational transfer of private wealth in its history. As that wealth passes on, families are asking not only where to hold it, but where to put it to work. A genuine hub for private capital is a place where capital can be deployed, grown and eventually realised. Malaysia offers all three.
It starts with opportunity. Our Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which contribute close to 40%1 of our GDP, represent not only an important engine of economic growth but also a significant investment opportunity. With an estimated RM268 billion financing gap for this segment, there is considerable room for family offices to complement traditional sources of financing by providing patient and flexible capital to promising businesses seeking to scale. For family offices, this presents an opportunity to participate directly in Malaysia’s growth story, while seeking attractive risk-adjusted returns through investments in businesses with strong growth potential.
We are also building other channels to connect that capital with those opportunities. Through co-investment platforms such as MyCIF, public funds have already helped mobilise RM7.7 billion for more than 11,500 businesses, investing alongside private investors. Families can take part directly, or through venture capital, private equity and private credit, including Shariah-compliant options.
Furthermore, there are additional opportunities to realise value with a potential 18,000 mid-tier companies (MTCs) that could become tomorrow's listed champions.
All of this sits within a base that families can operate from. Much of the region's family wealth has domestic roots, or runs through Malaysian businesses and ASEAN supply chains.
For family offices, Malaysia brings together the fundamentals that matter: a strategic location at the heart of ASEAN, competitive and high-quality talent, an established common law system, global leadership in Islamic finance, and a long-term residence pathway for principals, their families and the professionals supporting their family office. Together, these provide a strong foundation from which families can live, invest and manage their interests across the region.
In Forest City, within the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone, families can also draw on the complementary strengths of both sides of the Causeway.
Connecting Malaysia and Hong Kong
Malaysia’s partnership with Hong Kong widens the regional pathway further. Under our MoU with the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), companies can now pursue a dual IPO listing in both markets using a single set of submission documents, and Budget 2027 introduced a matching grant for those that take this route.
We have also extended mutual recognition of funds to ETFs and REITs, and the first ETF tracking a joint Hong Kong–Malaysia index is on its way2.
For family offices, this matters in two ways. For the businesses they own or back, it opens a route to two deep investor bases, one anchored in North Asia and one in ASEAN.
For their portfolios, it broadens access to North Asian exposure through regulated products available here at home. Malaysia becomes the point where these two pools of capital meet.
The SFO Incentive Scheme
We built the Single Family Office Incentive Scheme with the same long-term view. The tax incentive is conditional on families investing, spending and hiring locally, because we want families who operate here, not structures that are simply registered here.
When we launched the scheme in September 2024, we set a target of RM2 billion in assets under management (AUM) by the end of 2026. A year ago, six conditional approvals represented close to RM400 million.
As at September 2026, the scheme stands at an indicative AUM of RM20.8 billion, more than ten times our target, and reached ahead of schedule. It brings together local families, Malaysians bringing their wealth back home, and families from abroad.
Beyond the headline figure, the scheme is already delivering positive spillover effects to the wider market. For the capital market, it is expected to bring at least RM200 million in fresh investments with more family wealth now being managed professionally. That in turn enhances our existing ecosystem for the banks, fund managers, investment advisers, trustees, lawyers and tax advisers who provide professional services for these families.
Making the scheme work better
We are also making the family office model more accessible with increased options. Through the Multi-Family Office model announced in Budget 2027, families will have the flexibility to appoint an SC-licensed fund manager directly, rather than having to establish and operate a separate management company with its own staffing, governance, accounts and audit requirements.
This allows families to access professional investment managers with a more efficient operating structure, while retaining their own investment mandate. It also provides flexibility to evolve over time, whether through a Multi-Family Office (MFO), a Single Family Office, or a combination of both, as the family’s needs, wealth and investment portfolio grows.
What does not change is substance. To qualify for the 0% tax rate on all income, each Single Family Office Vehicle must still meet its substance requirement. Therefore, while the MFO model widens access, it does not dilute core tax exemption and substance requirement as that sits with the asset holding vehicle.
We are also making two further refinements. Contributions to the Iskandar Regional Development Authority's Social Fund will now count as local operating expenditure. For many families, philanthropy is part of how they see their role and their legacy. This gives them a practical way to support education, skills and community programmes in Johor, through an established authority with proper governance.
In addition, newly approved families will need to apply for their first certification within 18 months of Conditional Approval, so that approvals turn into operational family offices.
As the foundations of the scheme remain fixed, this offers certainty for families to plan for the long term. Within that stable framework, we will keep listening and refining how it works in practice.
Closing
For family offices, Malaysia offers opportunities to deploy patient capital into the businesses and projects driving the country’s next phase of growth, from emerging founders and established MTCs to energy transition projects. This provides families with access to a broader pipeline of private-market opportunities, with the potential for attractive long-term returns and diversification beyond traditional asset classes.
At the end of the day, resilient capital looks for a home that is itself resilient: a deep capital market, a credible regulator, connectivity to the region and beyond, and a framework built to last. Malaysia is ready to be that home. We invite you to build that future with us.
Thank you.
Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)
HKEX and Bursa Malaysia announcement, 22 April 2026.
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) was established on 1 March 1993 under the Securities Commission Act 1993 (SCA). We are a self-funded statutory body entrusted with the responsibility to regulate and develop the Malaysian capital market.
